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Class 


MONT  PELEE 

AND 

THE   TRAGEDY   OF    MARTINIQUE 


SECOND  EDITION 


UN;          ~Y  • 


Photo.  Heilprin 


PELEE    IN    ERUPTION— AUGUST   24,  1902 
The  entire  crater  working 


MONT  PELEE 


AND 


THE  TRAGEDY  OF  MARTINIQUE 


A  STUDY  OF  THE  GREAT  CATASTROPHES  OF  1902,  WITH 
OBSERVATIONS  AND  EXPERIENCES  IN  THE  FIELD 


BY 

ANGELO    HEILPRIN 
\\ 

PRESIDENT    OF    THE    GEOGRAPHICAL   SOCIETY   OF    PHILADELPHIA 

Vice-President  of  the  American  Alpine  Club ;  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society  of 

London ;  late  Professor  of  Geology  at  the  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences 

of  Philadelphia,  etc. 


ILLUSTRATED     WITH    PHOTOGRAPHS    LARGELY    TAKEN 
BY    THE    AUTHOR 


PHILADELPHIA   AND    LONDON 

J.    B.    LIPPINCOTT    COMPANY 

1903 


:  c  .   ;      '    '  -'  '  ; 

:       COPYRIGHT,  1 902 

BY  J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT  COMPANY 
Published  January,  1903 


ELECTROTYPED    AND    PRINTED    BY    J.    B.    LIPPINCOTT    COMPANY,    PHILADELPHIA,    U.   S.  A. 


TO 
PROFESSOR   EDUARD  SUESS 

PRESIDENT    OF    THE    IMPERIAL 
ACADEMY  OF  SCIENCES,  VIENNA 


117471 


PREFACE 

IN  presenting  to  his  readers  the  following  pages  dealing 
with  one  of  the  most  noteworthy,  even  if  lamentable,  inci- 
dents in  the  world's  history,  the  author  feels  that  he  must 
do  so  with  the  apology  that  the  work  is  only  partly  done. 
The  magnitude  of  the  phenomena  that  are  associated  with 
the  Pelee  eruptions,  and  the  obscurity  in  which  many  of 
the  facts  pertaining  thereto  still  remain,  will  necessitate 
further  research  before  the  episode  can  be  made  fully 
known  in  all  its  relations,  and  probably  some  of  the  con- 
clusions here  set  forth  will  have  to  be  modified  in  the  light 
of  future  investigations.  But  the  history  as  it  stands  may 
be  considered  measurably  complete,  and  it  has  the  advan- 
tage, at  least,  of  being  based  largely  upon  personal  observa- 
tion. 

The  author's  two  visits  to  Martinique  were  made  after 
an  interval  of  three  months,  in  the  latter  part  of  May  and 
again  in  August,  and  during  these  times  he  enjoyed  unu- 
sual opportunities  for  the  prosecution  of  his  work.  The 
pleasing  courtesies  of  the  people  of  Martinique  helped 
largely  to  whatever  of  success  was  obtained,  and  contributed 
a  degree  of  comfort  in  labor  the  absence  of  which  would 
have  been  sorely  trying.  During  the  later  visit  it  was  the 
author's  privilege  to  be  a  close  witness  of  the  second  great 
death-dealing  eruption  of  Mont  Pelee,  and  he  had  thereby 


Vll 


viii  PEEFACE 

the  marked  advantage  of  being  able  to  make  his  investiga- 
tions in  a  newly-culled  field. 

The  author  feels  himself  under  obligation  to  many,  on 
and  off  the  island,  who  in  one  way  or  another  proffered 
assistance,  and  to  these  collectively  he  extends  his  thanks,; 
but  the  history  of  personal  travel  would  not  be  complete 
without  a  special  acknowledgment  being  made  to  his  friends 
of  Vive,  Assier  and  Trinite,  who  neglected  no  effort  to 
insure  comfort  to  himself  and  to  his  associates.  These  are 
MM.  Fernand  and  Joseph  Clerc,  Lagarrigue  de  Meillac, 
Teliam  de  Chancel,  and,  not  least,  Mile.  Marie  de  Jaham, 
the  affable  hostess  of  the  ©lerc  establishment.  A  special 
expression  of  thanks  is  also  due  to  M.  Louis  des  Grottes, 
of  the  Habitation  Leyritz,  United  States  Consul  Louis  H. 
Ayme,  whose  many  kindnesses  brought  a  ready  introduction 
of  the  author  to  the  island,  and  M.  Ivanes. 

The  illustrations  that  accompany  the  work  are  largely 
from  photographs  taken  by  the  author  himself,  and  many 
of  them  represent,  in  a  way  that  has  probably  not  been 
possible  before,  the  consecutive  stages  in  the  paroxysmal 
eruption  of  a  very  active  volcano.  Other  photographs  were 
obtained  through  the  kind  permission  of  Messrs.  Under- 
wood &  Underwood,  of  New  York,  whose  representative 
in  Martinique  was  for  a  while  associated  with  the  author  in 
his  studies  of  Mont  Pelee. 

ANGELO  HEILPRIN. 
GEOGRAPHICAL  SOCIETY  OF  PHILADELPHIA, 

December,  1902. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  IMPRESSIONS  OP  MARTINIQUE 1 

II.  SAINT  PIERRE  AND  ITS  EUINS 16 

III.  THE  CATACLYSM  OP  MAY  8 35 

IY.  DAYS  OF  FEAR  AND  TREMBLING 60 

V.  THE  LAST  DAY  OF  SAINT  PIERRE 73 

YI.    ViCAR-GrENERAL    PAREL's     CHRONICLE 85 

YII.  AFTER  THE  CONFLAGRATION 109 

VIII.  VESUVIUS  AND  POMPEII — A  .PARALLEL 121 

IX.  ACROSS  THE  ISLAND  TO  ASSIER  140 

X.  To  THE  STORM-CLOUD  OF  PELEE' s  CRATER 151 

XI.  THE  GEOGRAPHY  OF  MONT  PELEE 166 

XII.  PERE  MARY,  CURE  OF  MORNE  ROUGE 189 

XIII.  CLOUDS  OF  PASSAGE 197 

XIV.  A  SECOND  VISIT  TO  MARTINIQUE 208 

XV.  BATTLING  WITH   PELEE 216 

XVI.  A  KIGHT  OP  ILLUMINATION,  AND  THE  DESTRUCTION  OF 

MORNE  ROUGE  AND  AJOUPA-BOUILLON 227 

XVII.  THE  SOUFRIERE  OF  ST.  VINCENT  AND  THE  AFTERGLOWS  . .  244 

XVIII.  THE  VOLCANIC  RELATIONS  OF  THE  CARIBBEAN  BASIN 257 

XIX.  THE  PHENOMENA  OF  THE  ERUPTION 271 

APPENDIX 319 

NOTES 329 

INDEX.  ..333 


IX 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

PLATES 

PAGE 

PELEE  IN  ERUPTION — AUGUST  24,  1902 {Frontispiece} 

1.  THE   PITONS   DU  CARBET  WITH  PELEE'S  ASH-CLOUD  IN  THE 

DISTANCE 4 

2.  STREET-SWEEPERS — FORT-DE-FRANCE 8 

3.  SAINT  PIERRE  AND  MONT  PELEE 16 

4.  ALONG  THE  ROXELANE — SAINT  PIERRE 20 

5.  THE  RED-TILED  ROOFS  OP  SAINT  PIERRE , 30 

6.  RUE  VICTOR-HUGO,  MAY  14,  1902 38 

7.  CATHEDRAL  OF  SAINT  PIERRE , 46 

8.  CATHEDRAL  IN  RUINS — SAINT  PIERRE 58 

9.  FAC-SIMILE  OF  FIRST  PAGE  (LAST  ISSUE)  OF  LES  COLONIES.  68 

10.  SAINT  PIERRE  IN  RUINS 80 

11.  MUD-FLOW  OF  MAY  5 88 

12.  THE  SILENT  CITY 110 

13.  BODIES  IN  BASEMENT  OF  HOUSE 124 

14.  A  MARTINIQUE  PASTORAL — ASSIER 140 

15.  EVENING  GLOW  ON  PELEE'S  PENNANT 150 

16.  GREAT  ASH-CLOUD  TURNING  DAY  INTO  I^IGHT 160 

17.  ON  THE  VOLCANO'S  DEVASTATED  SLOPE 168 

18.  THE  MAJESTY  OF  PELEE'S  INFERNO 180 

19.  THE  MORNE  DE  LA  CROIX 188 

20.  A  DELUGE  OF  BOULDERS 204 

21.  MORNE  ROUGE  AND  PELEE 218 

22.  BEFORE  A  SHRINE — MORNE  ROUGE 230 

23.  THE  DARKENING  CLOUD  OF  JUNE  6 244 

24.  THE  ENVELOPING  ASH-CLOUD  OF  JUNE  6 256 

xi 


xii  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

25.  PELEE  IN  A  PAROXYSM,  JUNE  5 266 

26.  TOWERING  AND  MUSHROOM-SHAPED  CLOUDS 274 

27.  A  COCOANUT-GATHERER ASSIER 282 

28.  PELEE  "SMOKING"  PROM  THE  NEW  FRAGMENTAL  CONE 288 

29.  THE   HEAVENS'  AGLOW,  MAY  26 294 

30.  THE  ISSUING  BLASTS  FROM  THE  CRATER 304 

31.  PROGRESSIVE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  AN  ERUPTION 312 

32.  PROGRESSIVE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  AN  ERUPTION 312 

33.  APPROACHING  CLIMAX  OF  ERUPTION 318 

34.  ASH-CLOUD  THREE   MILES  OVERHEAD;     ASH-CLOUD   EISING 

FROM  THE  CRATER.  . 318 

35.  A  SUDDEN  BLOW  FROM  THE  CRATER 326 

36.  THE  DEVASTATED  REGION  OF  MARTINIQUE  (MAP) 337 

TEXT 

FORT-DE-FRANCE  AND  THE  PITONS  DU  CARBET 3 

IN  THE  SAVANE  OF  FORT-DE-FRANCE 7 

MARTINIQUE  WOMAN   12 

THE  FOREST  SOLITUDE 15 

THE  THEATRE — SAINT  PIERRE 18 

EUE  VICTOR  HUGO — SAINT  PIERRE 23 

THE  CATHEDRAL  OF  SAINT  PIERRE — AUGUST  23,  1902 28 

PELEE  IN  THE  MAY  ERUPTION 40 

IRON  BRIDGE  ACROSS  THE  ROXELANE — SAINT  PIERRE 49 

CABLE  CHART  OF  THE  "  POUYER-QUERTIER" 55 

RECOVERED  CABLE  STRAND  ENVELOPING  BRANCH  OF  TREE 57 

OPPOSITE  THE  RIVIERE  SECHE 68 

BASSE-POINTE — MAY  30,  1902   79 

THROWN  STATUE  OF  "  OUR  LADY  OF  THE  WATCH" 98 

SAINT  PIERRE  BURNING 108 

RUE  LUCIE — SAINT  PIERRE 131 

BURIAL- VAULT — SAINT  PIERRE  .  133 


ILLUSTRATIONS  xiii 

PAGE 

BODIES  ON  THE  TERRACE  ROAD 137 

REFUGEES  ox  THE  ROAD — GRAXDE-AXSE 143 

STREET  SCEXE — LAMENTIN 148 

ASH-CLOUD  OF  PELEE — FROM  NEAR  ASSIER 154 

A  BURST  FROM  THE  CRATER 163 

BASIN  OF  THE  LAC  DES  PALMISTES  AND  THE  SHATTERED  MORNE 

DE  LA  CROIX 171 

PELEE  SMOKING  FROM  FRAGMENTAL  CONE 179 

ON  THE  ROAD  TO  MORXE  ROUGE 191 

THE  BOMB-SCARRED  SLOPE  OF  PELEE 221 

THE  "  RORAIMA"  BURXIXG 226 

SAIXT  PIERRE  AXD  MOXT  PELEE  IN  1766 270 

THE  ISLAND  OF  MARTINIQUE 328 


MONT  PELEE 


AND 


THE  TRAGEDY  OF  MARTINIQUE 

\ 

I 

IMPRESSIONS    OF   MARTINIQUE 

MY  first  view  of  the  unhappy  island  whose  misfortunes 
have  so  deeply  roused  the  sympathies  of  the  world  was  in 
the  early  morning  of  the  25th  of  May,  two  and  a  half 
weeks  after  one  of  the  greatest  tragedies  recorded  in  history 
had  been  enacted  on  its  shores.  The  Fontabelle  was  then 
steering  her  course  close  in  shore,  but  it  was  not  until  we 
had  passed  the  nimbus  of  the  great  ash-cloud  that  Pelee 
was  throwing  out  to  sea  that  we  began  to  distinguish  the 
features  of  recognizable  land.  The  island  in  front  of  us 
was  not  a  tropical  paradise,  but  a  withered  piece  of  the 
earth  that  seemed  to  be  just  emerging  from  chaos.  Every- 
thing was  gray  and  brown,  sunk  behind  a  cloud  which  only 
the  mind  could  penetrate ;  there  was  nothing  that  appealed 
restfully  to  the  eye. 

The  landscape  was  barren  as  though  it  had  been  graven 
with  desert  tools,  scarred  and  made  ragged  by  floods  of 
water  and  boiling  mud,  and  hardly  a  vestige  remained  of 

the  verdant  forest  that  but  a  short  time  before  had  been 

i 


2  IMPEESSIONS   OF   MABTINIQUE 

the  glory  of  the  land.  Great  folds  of  cloud  and  ash  hung 
over  the  crown  of  the  volcano,  and  from  its  lower  flanks 
issued  a  veritable  tempest  of  curling  vapor  and  mud. 
Lying  close  to  its  southern  foot,  and  bathed  in  the  flame 
of  a  tropical  sunshine,  was  all  that  remained  of  the  once 
attractive  city  of  Saint  Pierre — miles  of  wreckage  that 
reached  up  from  the  silent  desert  of  stone  and  sand,  show- 
ing no  color  but  the  burning  grays  that  had  been  flung  to 
them  or  that  had  formed  part  of  mother  earth. 

We  entered  the  harbor  of  Fort-de-France  shortly  after 
eight  o'clock,  and  took  our  place  beside  the  white  flank  of 
the  Suchet,  whose  work  in  the  catastrophe  of  the  8th  had 
made  it  famous  among  its  craft.  Two  other  men-of-war, 
their  sheets  drooping  from  the  foreyards  like  linen  in  a 
Neapolitan  passaggio,  were  also  sweltering  under  the  genially 
tropical  sun,  with  schools  of  gars  and  dog-fishes  swirling 
about  their  hulls.  The  city  did  not  at  this  time  impress 
me  as  being  particularly  concerned  in  the  havoc  that  lay 
so  close  to  its  doors.  It  being  the  Sabbath  day,  the  busi- 
ness streets  wore  the  usual  dress  of  pleasurable  inactivity, 
and  only  in  the  savane,  or  open  square,  and  in  and  about 
the  hotels,  was  there  anything  to  remind  one  of  a  serious 
life.  Uniformed  members  of  the  army  and  navy,  city  and 
state  officials,  black  and  white,  newspaper  editors,  scientists, 
and  others  were  gathered  around  in  groups,  discussing  the 
two  important  topics  of  the  day — the  elections  that  had 
recently  been  held  and  the  possibility  of  PeleVs  activity 
invading  the  city.  The  volcano  itself  is  not  visible  from 
the  lower  part  of  Fort-de-France,  but  its  great  white  cloud, 


IMPRESSIONS   OF   MARTINIQUE  3 

whose  towering  at  all  times  attracted  the  attention  of  some 
eyes,  helped  to  keep  it  in  evidence,  and  supplied  a  never- 
failing  ferment  for  conversation  and  argument. 

I  took  lodgings  in  a  promising  location  at  the  inner  end 
of  the  green  which  surrounds  the  statue  of  the  Empress 


Photo.  Heilprin 

FORT-DE-FRANCE    AND   THE    PITONS    DE    CARBET 

Josephine,  and  where  my  room  opened  up  on  tiled  roofs 
and  circling  corridors,  and  the  distant  flowing  curls  of  the 
volcano.  The  hotel  was  disorganized  and  the  service  gone, 
but  for  this  Pelee  was  properly  held  responsible,  for  its 
recent  eruptions,  especially  that  of  May  20,  had  created 
a  degree  of  consternation  among  those  who  did  not  permit 
themselves  to  believe  that  security  was  assured  by  distance 


4  IMPEESSIONS   OF   MAKTLNTQUE 

which  could  be  realized  only  by  those  who  had  lived 
through  the  recent  occurrences  of  the  unfortunate  island. 
It  required  but  a  warning  to  set  the  population  in  panic, 
and  many  thought  it  a  wise  precaution  to  place  themselves 
where  warnings  were  not  a  necessary  prelude  to  a  peaceful 
living. 

Fort-de-France,  which  is  now,  after  the  destruction  of 
Saint  Pierre,  the  most  important  centre  of  population  in 
the  island  of  Martinique,  occupies  part  of  the  northern 
face  of  one  of  the  best  harbors  of  the  Lesser  Antilles,  and 
is  backed  by  the  heights  of  Carbet  on  the  north.  It  lies 
close  to  the  water's  edge,  with  only  two  to  five  feet  level 
between  it  and  the  surface  of  the  sea,  and  thus  invites  to 
itself  a  form  of  catastrophe  which  has  more  than  once 
visited  other  parts  of  the  island.  On  the  night  of  the 
great  eruption  of  August  30,  the  sea  rose  close  to  the 
outer  border  of  the  savane,  directly  abreast  of  the  main 
hotel.  The  lower  parts  are  built  on  made  ground,  and  it 
is,  therefore,  with  just  fear  that  the  people  look  to  a  pos- 
sible ras  de  maree. 

The  city  has  little  to  show  for  itself  as  a  municipium 
of  nearly  eighteen  thousand  inhabitants,  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment, and  the  depot  of  naval  and  military  stores.  Until 
the  conflagration  of  1890,  which  destroyed  its  major  por- 
tion, it  was  built  chiefly  of  wood,  but  since  that  time  stone 
and  rubble  form  the  principal  materials  of  construction. 
The  only  conventionally  interesting  sites  or  locations  are 
the  city  green  or  savane,  hardly  cared  for  but  ornamented 
with  a  number  of  stately  and  regenerated  royal  palms ;  the 


1MPEESSIONS   OF   MARTINIQUE  5 

allees  of  rubber,  tamarin  and  giant  sabliers  (Hum  crepi- 
tans) ;  the  cathedral,  and  the  shedded  market,  where  may 
be  observed  at  close  range  the  faces  of  all  nationalities 
known  to  Martinique,  and  a  Babel  of  voices  heard  at 
nearly  all  hours  of  the  day. 

Beyond  this  there  is  little  to  attract,  although  many 
interesting  phases  and  pictures  of  life  can  be  picked  up  by 
those  seeking  new  impressions,  especially  along  the  banks  of 
the  picturesque,  even  if  not  wholly  pure,  Riviere  Madame. 
Apart  from  the  H6tel-de-Ville,  there  is  no  commanding 
edifice  of  any  kind,  whether  official  or  private,  and  the 
shops  that  aspire  to  a  degree  of  worldliness  are  few  in 
number.  With  scarcely  an  exception,  the  streets  of  the 
city  are  narrow  and  have  the  restricted  sidewalks  that 
belong  to  most  tropical  cities  of  this  class.  Each  has  its 
own  surface-water,  serving  as  a  store  to  those  needing  it 
and  as  an  expurgator  of  accumulated  and  accumulating 
filth. 

The  houses  are  chiefly  of  rubble  and  plaster  or  stucco, 
with  pitched  roofs,  and  the  greater  number  are  of  two  or 
three  stories.  There  are  few  among  them  that  can  lay 
claim  to  architectural  effect,  and  they  lack  wholly  the 
attractive  features  that  belong  to  Spanish  and  Mexican 
houses.  On  the  surrounding  heights,  where  many  of  the 
wealthier  people  reside  and  enjoy  fresh  air,  there  are 
residences  of  finer  pretence,  and  some  of  these  are  charm- 
ingly inviting  in  their  garden  approaches.  The  focus  of 
social  life  of  the  city  is  the  savane,  with  its  bordering  allees, 
and  the  great  expanse  of  unadorned  grass.  Here,  late  in 


6  IMPEESSIONS   OF   MAETINIQUE 

the  afternoon  of  almost  every  day,  may  be  seen  what  there 
is  of  the  fashion  and  wealth  of  the  city,  the  little  gather- 
ings of  French  men  and  women,  their  promenades,  saluta- 
tions and  dress,  recalling  in  miniature  the  life  of  Europe. 
Necessarily,  these  gatherings  are  only  of  nutshell  dimen- 
sions, and  however  they  may  partake  of  the  atmosphere  of 
true  France,  they  give  one  only  the  feeling  of  being  exiled, 
for  the  life  that  surrounds  is  foreign  in  every  way. 

Four-fifths,  or  more,  of  those  whom  one  sees  are  yellow 
or  black  in  color — mixed  Creoles,  mulattoes,  negroes,  and 
coolies — the  true  Martiniquians,  if  one  chooses  to  call  them 
such.  Except  about  the  hotels  and  as  representatives  of 
the  government,  army  and  navy,  white  men  are  in  evi- 
dence merely  as  points  of  reference.  Nearly  all  the 
municipal  offices,  from  the  lowest  to  the  highest,  are  filled 
by  representatives  of  the  colored  or  black  race,  and  the 
same  holds  measurably  true  of  the  offices  held  under  the 
rule  of  the  government.  One  of  the  two  regular  jour- 
nals of  the  city,  La  Colonie,  is  edited  and  published  by  a 
man  of  color ;  the  librarian  of  the  JBibliotheque  Schoelcher 
is  likewise  colored.  The  condition  existing  at  Saint  Pierre 
at  the  time  of  its  destruction  was  different.  It  was  the 
city,  par  excellence,  and  it  housed  the  wealth  and  aristocracy 
of  the  island. 

Hearn,  in  one  of  his  brilliant  color  pictures  of  the 
people,  characterizes  them  as  being  a  population  of  the 
"  Arabian  Nights,"  many  colored,  but  with  yellow  as  the 
dominating  tint.  He  invests  them  with  a  glory  that  is  not 
at  all  times  theirs,  but  on  the  whole  they  are  kindly  in 


IMPEESSIONS   OF   MAETINIQUE  7 

spirit,  the  women,  more  particularly,  graceful  and  dignified 
in  bearing,  and  both  sexes  sufficiently  alive  to  the  recogni- 
tion of  their  worth.  The  men  do  not  differ  radically  from 
other  negro  and  mulatto  types  that  are  distributed  through- 


IN    THE    SAVANE    OF    FORT-DE-FRANCE 


out  the  south,  except  that  they  are  softer  in  character  and 
more  gentle  in  their  ways,  an  inheritance,  doubtless,  of 
French  associations.  It  is  different  with  the  women,  who 
appear  immediately  as  a  race  apart.  Of  unusual  height, 


8  IMPEESSIONS   OF   MAETINIQUE 

supple  and  straight  as  their  royal  palms,  these  proud 
products  of  Martiniquian  soil  at  once  arrest  attention ;  and 
while  one  could  readily  challenge  the  contention  that  they 
are  the  "fairest  of  the  fair/'  it  may  be  admitted  that  some 
of  their  types  are  imperiously  attractive,  and  that  a  voice 
more  beautiful  than  theirs  or  one  better  qualified  to  charm, 
cannot  be  found  as  a  quality  belonging  to  any  other 
race. 

In  striking  contrast  to  the  degree  of  unattractiveness  of 
its  capital  city,  is  the  island  of  Martinique  itself.  Situated 
in  a  quarter  of  the  globe  where  nature  knows  no  limit  to 
her  work,  and  where  the  tares  and  stubble  of  erratic 
growth  have  not  yet  developed  sufficiently  to  deface,  it  comes 
to  the  eye,  save  where  desolating  death  has  latterly  laid  its 
hand,  a  picture  of  charming  loveliness — peaceful  but  ex- 
uberant. Its  gently  swelling  outline  does  not  remind  one 
of  the  crags  and  cliffs  of  Capri,  of  Ischia  and  of  other 
Mediterranean  islands ;  nor  do  its  heights  recall  the  nearer 
mountains  of  Cuba,  Jamaica  or  Porto  Kico.  The  landscape 
is  that  of  the  Lesser  Antilles,  diversified  in  its  own  way, 
and  breathing  its  own  atmosphere.  Dominica,  near  to  it, 
has  perhaps  most  of  its  fine  nature,  and  St.  Kitts  sur- 
passes in  quiet  repose ;  but  the  unfortunate  French  island, 
now  writhing  in  the  coils  of  the  dragon  that  wrought  its 
earlier  fabric,  has  a  charm  of  its  own,  which  its  neighbors 
have  failed  to  cultivate,  or  which,  with  them,  has,  perhaps, 
already  ceased  to  exist. 

It  may  not  be  difficult  to  find  islands  that  are  more 
beautiful,  more  winsome,  than  Martinique,  but  it  is  less 


m 


Underwood  &  Underwood,  Stereos.  Photo.,  New  York,  Copyright, 


STREET-SWEEPERS   OF    FORT-DE-FRANCE 
The  Savane 


IMPKESSIONS   OF  MAETINIQUE  9 

easy  to  find  one  that  is  quite  its  equal.  It  has  the  softest 
of  summer  zephyrs  blowing  across  its  fields  and  hillsides ; 
swift  and  tumbling  waters  break  through  forest  and  plain ; 
and  mountain  heights  rise  to  where  they  can  gather  the 
island's  mists  to  their  crowns.  There  are  pretty  thatched 
cottages,  nestling  in  the  shade  of  the  cocoanut,  mango  and 
bread-fruit,  and  decked  out  with  bright  hibiscus  and  Bou- 
gainvillea ;  and  fields  of  tobacco  and  patches  of  coffee  and 
cacao,  added  to  bright  cane,  tell  of  a  degree  of  prosperity 
that  most  of  the  other  islands  do  not  have. 

Seen  from  the  sea,  the  island  rises  up  into  a  series  of 
bold  or  even  rugged  prominences,  with  hanging  slopes  of 
beautiful  woodland,  and  fields  of  sugar-cane  running  into 
their  midst.  The  lesser  heights  swell  up  like  huge  camel- 
humps  from  the  confused  landscape,  giving  a  charming 
background  to  the  village  sites  that  lie  about  them.  During 
the  middle  hours  of  day  obscuring  clouds  generally  hajig 
over  the  mountains,  but  in  the  early  morning  the  summit 
cap  of  Pelee,  the  loftiest  eminence  of  the  land,  can  generally 
be  seen  dominating  the  landscape. 

Until  within  the  last  few  years  the  forest-primeval 
clothed  the  mountain  slopes  from  base  to  summit,  but  to-day 
little  remains  of  the  true  grands  bois.  A  woodland  of  ex- 
quisite luxuriance,  and  showing  the  'distinctive  features  of 
a  tropical  vegetation,  may  still  be  seen  and  felt  along  the 
deep  waterways  of  the  interior ;  but  the  hand  of  man  has 
been  steadily  wiping  out  the  glories  of  wild  nature,  to  put 
in  their  place  the  more  humble  picture  of  cultivation. 
Fields  of  brilliant  cane  lie  in  the  south,  in  the  east  and  in 


10  IMPEESSIONS   OF  MAET1NIQUE 

the  north,  and  from  their  product  the  island  returns  most 
of  what  wealth  it  has  to  its  inhabitants ;  and  still  humbler 
plantations  of  cassava,  bread-fruit  and  banana  surround  the 
domestic  cottage. 

Martinique  is  the  second  in  size  of  the  group  of  beauti- 
ful islands  known  as  the  Caribbees,  and  lies  four  hundred 
and  ten  miles  due  north  of  the  main  mouth  of  the  Orinoco 
River.  Its  softly  rugged  heights,  and  somewhat  loftier 
elevations,  the  mornes,  rise  from  an  almost  immediate  depth 
of  water  of  four  to  six  thousand  feet,  and  have  for  their 
nearest  neighbors  Dominica  on  the  north,  and  St.  Lucia  on 
the  south,  each  separated  off  by  a  billowy  sea  of  twenty  to 
twenty-five  miles.  Nearly  the  whole  of  the  island,  except 
where  in  local  patches  the  coral-animal  has  built  up  its 
reefs,  is  of  volcanic  origin — the  soil,  the  hills,  the  stream- 
boulders  all  bearing  testimony  to  the  action  of  volcanic 
forces  which  were  in  operation  thousands  of  years  ago. 
We  possess  no  positive  information  of  any  eruption  having 
disturbed  its  surface  prior  to  1792,  when,  in  the  month  of 
January,  a  feeble  activity,  comparable  to  that  of  August, 
1851,  gave  indication  of  the  life  that  still  rested  within. 
The  present  active  point  of  the  island  is  Mont  Pelee,  a 
mountain  of  only  Vesuvian  proportions,  whose  broad  foot 
defines  nearly  the  whole  north  shore. 

Rising  to  four  thousand  two  hundred  feet,  or  somewhat 
higher,  its  summit  dominates  the  whole  island,  save  where 
the  line  of  sight  is  cut  by  the  bold  and  hardly  less  signifi- 
cant peaks  or  Pitons  of  Carbet — ancient  volcanic  knobs 
three  thousand  nine  hundred  and  sixty  feet  in  elevation — 


IMPEESSIONS   OF   MAETIXIQUE  11 

that  lie  north  of  Fort-de-France.  History  records  no  ac- 
tivity on  the  part  of  these  mountains,  nor  from  the  still 
conical  Vauclin  in  the  south. 

Though  so  important  among  its  neighbors,  Martinique 
is  hardly  more  than  a  garden-spot,  for  it  covers  less  than 
four  hundred  square  miles,  and  the  greater  part  of  it  could 
be  packed  into  the  area  that  is  covered  by  the  first  city  of 
the  United  States.  Lying  well  within  the  tropics,  it  has 
all  that  a  resourceful  nature  provides,  and  man  has  done 
much — not  too  much,  some  will  say — to  improve  what 
nature  has  left  undone.  He  has  cut  beautiful  roadways 
through  meadowland  and  forest,  around  cultivated  fields 
and  gardens  and  on  the  seashore  cliffs  high  above  the 
surging  waters.  He  has  removed  most  of  the  forest,  and 
put  in  its  place  the  cultivated  field.  Wherever  we  turn  the 
eye,  it  falls  upon  a  peaceful  living,  and  there  is  little  to  re- 
mind one  that  man  may  be  in  want,  and  that  the  necessaries 
of  life  are  not  justly  distributed.  But  withal,  the  island  is 
not  wholly  a  paradise,  for  it  has  had  its  earthquakes,  its 
cyclones,  and  its  inundations ;  and  now  must  be  added  to  its 
unfortunate  assets  the  most  destructive  volcanic  outburst 
that  has  ravaged  any  one  region.  The  earthquake  of  1839, 
which  wrecked  one-half  of  the  capital  city,  Fort-de-France, 
and  cost  the  lives  of  no  less  than  four  hundred  people,  is 
still  a  part  of  modern  history ;  but  the  terrible  cyclone  of 
August  18,  1891,  which  blotted  forty  hamlets  from  the  map 
of  the  island,  lies  much  nearer  to  our  own  day.  It  is,  in- 
deed, remarkable,  seeing  how  numerous  in  the  past  have 
been  earthquake  disturbances  of  one  kind  or  another,  that 


12 


IMPEESSIONS   OF   MAETINIQUE 


the  late  volcanic  cataclysm  should  have  been  so  nearly  free 
of  seismic  movement  of  any  kind. 

In  this  island  world  of  three  hundred  and  eighty  square 
miles  there  lived  before  the  eventful  8th  of  May  one 
hundred  and  ninety  thousand  people,  or  five  hundred  to 


MARTINIQUE    WOMAN 


every  square  mile — about  the  same  number  to  the  square 
mile  as  is  found  in  England  and  Wales,  and  two  and  a 
half  times  that  in  France.  The  number  now  living  has 
been  lessened  by  about  a  sixth.  Though  not  quite  so  de- 
spairingly wrecked  as  some  of  its  sister  islands,  Martinique 


1MPEESSIONS   OF   MAETINIQUE  13 

shares  in  their  decadent  misfortunes.  Capital  is  lacking  for 
new  enterprises,  and  energy  wherewith  to  obtain  capital. 
The  production  of  sugar  and  rum,  with  its  small  mar- 
gin for  profit  in  some  parts,  and  the  absolute  loss  en- 
tailed in  the  cultivation  of  the  cane  elsewhere,  remains  the 
chief  industry  of  the  island,  and  were  it  not  for  the  ex- 
treme fertility  of  the  soil,  and  the  fact  that  a  small  and  in- 
dependent living  can  still  be  made  from  patches  of  earth 
that  have  not  yet  been  bonded  to  sugar-estates,  the  land 
would  soon  go  impoverished  in  the  way  of  the  other  beautiful 
islands  of  the  Lesser  Antilles.  As  it  is,  despite  its  many 
misfortunes  and  vicissitudes,  Martinique  remains  a  com- 
parative garden-spot,  and  the  eye  falls  with  delight  upon 
the  pieces  of  cultivation — of  banana,  bread-fruit,  cocoanut, 
cassava,  and  Carib  cabbage — that  lie  about  on  the  hill- 
sides, in  the  hollows,  and  along  the  roadside,  and  give  a 
living  to  thousands  who  have  no  work  beyond  their  garden 
palings,  and  hardly  more  within  them. 

M.  Bourgarel,  in  the  Economists  Europeen,  notes  that 
of  the  area  of  the  island  now  under  cultivation — forty- 
seven  thousand  hectares  out  of  a  total  of  ninety-eight  thou- 
sand— approximately  twenty  thousand  are  given  over  to 
the  cultivation  of  the  cane,  which  is  little  more  than  it  was 
in  1867  (eighteen  thousand  five  hundred  and  sixty-five). 
From  that  year  until  1886,  when  the  sugar  crisis  materially 
checked  the  prosperity  of  the  island,  the  development  of 
the  cane-growing  industry  was  steady  for  nearly  every  year, 
the  hectareage  finally  reaching  twenty-eight  thousand  four 
hundred  and  fifty.  At  this  time,  therefore,  compared  with 


14  IMPRESSIONS   OF   MARTINIQUE 

what  it  was  at  its  maximum,  sixteen  years  ago,  the  industry 
has  fallen  short  by  almost  exactly  thirty  per  cent. ;  and 
now,  with  the  devastation  that  has  taken  place  in  the 
northern  section  of  the  island,  where  are  situated  many  of 
the  most  thriving  plantations  and  some  of  the  largest 
mines  of  the  colony,  and  the  added  uncertainties  of  work 
that  necessarily  follow  such  a  storm,  the  product  will  be 
reduced  very  much  further.  It  may  be  that  this  condition 
will  in  the  end  work  to  the  advantage  of  the  island,  for 
it  is  certain  that  it  is  capable  of  rising  to  other  industries 
that,  in  the  present  condition  of  the  sugar  problem,  must 
yield  more  largely  in  profit,  and  open  the  way  to  a  material 
progress  which  confinement  to  a  single  enterprise  cannot 
permit. 

Martinique,  though  well  supplied  with  excellent  interior 
roads,  which  place  its  different  locations  in  easy  union  with 
one  another,  is  entirely  lacking  in  the  means  of  rapid  com- 
munication. Excepting  the  small  private  roads,  that  op- 
erate individually  in  the  different  plantations,  there  is  not  a 
line  of  running  railroad,  whether  steam  or  electric,  on  the 
entire  island.  Inland  transportation  and  carriage  are  had 
by  means  of  an  antiquated  coach-service  and  by  individual 
porterage,  both  men  and  women  being  willing  servants  to 
this  form  of  labor.  The  heavy,  lumbering  ox-cart,  with  its 
double-yoked  team,  is  still  a  part  of  the  scenery  of  the 
Martinique  roadway,  and  may  remain  such,  so  far  as 
present  indications  point,  for  some  time  still  in  the  future. 
The  modernizing  of  the  island,  while  it  has  brought  with  it 
a  certain  number  of  "  improvements" — the  electric  light, 


IMPEESSIONS   OF   MAETINIQUE 


15 


telephone  and  telegraph — leaves  many  things  still  un- 
touched, and  fortunately  among  these,  the  desecration  of 
the  landscape.  This  will  continue  charming,  and  with  it 
the  soft  atmosphere  that  gives  it  color. 


Photo.  Heilprin 


THE    FOREST   SOLITUDE 


II 

SAINT   PIERRE   AND   ITS   RITINS 

LAFCADIO  HEARN,  in  his  work  on  the  West  Indies, 
gives  the  following  description  of  the  city  he  knew  so  well : 

"  The  quaintest,  queerest,  and  the  prettiest  withal, 
among  West  Indian  cities ;  all  stone-built  and  stone-flagged, 
with  very  narrow  streets,  wooden  or  zinc  awnings,  and 
peaked  roofs  of  red  tile,  pierced  by  gable  dormers.  Most 
of  the  buildings  are  painted  in  a  clear  yellow  tone,  which 
contrasts  delightfully  with  the  burning  blue  ribbon  of 
tropical  sky  above ;  and  no  street  is  absolutely  level ; 
nearly  all  of  them  climb  hills,  descend  into  hollows,  curve, 
twist,  describe  sudden  angles.  There  is  everywhere  a  loud 
murmur  of  running  water,  pouring  through  the  deep  gut- 
ters contrived  between  the  paved  thoroughfare  and  the 
absurd  little  sidewalks,  varying  in  width  from  one  to  three 
feet.  The  architecture  is  that  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
and  reminds  one  of  the  antiquated  quarter  of  New  Orleans. 
All  the  tints,  the  forms,  the  vistas,  would  seem  to  have  been 
especially  elected  or  designed  for  aquarelle  studies.  The 
windows  are  frameless  openings  without  glass  ;  some  have 
iron  bars ;  all  have  heavy  wooden  shutters  with  movable 
slats,  through  which  light  and  air  can  enter." 

Saint  Pierre,  which  at  the  time  of  its  destruction  was 
the  most  important  commercial  town  of  the  island  of 
Martinique,  was  also  the  earliest  French  settlement  on  the 

16 


?>s 


SAINT   PIERRE   AND   ITS   KUINS  17 

island,  having  been  founded  by  Esnambuc  as  far  back  as 
1635.  It  lay  on  an  open  roadstead,  without  harbor  advan- 
tages of  any  kind,  and  directly  appressed  to  the  southern 
foot  of  Mont  Pelee.  Its  position  relative  to  the  destroy- 
ing volcano  was  very  similar  to  that  which  Herculaneum 
and  Pompeii  bore  to  the  ancient  Vesuvius.  The  early 
establishment  of  the  settlement,  its  beautiful  position,  and 
the  fact  that  it  was  the  natural  outlet  to  one  of  the  rich- 
est cane  and  cacao  districts  of  the  island,  doubtless  led 
to  its  supremacy  over  every  other  location,  and  made  the 
absence  of  a  harbor  a  matter  of  secondary  importance.  It 
was  the  home  of  the  bankers,  merchants  and  shippers. 
Many  of  the  largest  planters  had  seasonable  homes  here, 
and  had  built  beautiful  villas  along  the  height  of  Morne 
d'Orange,  the  Reduits,  and  Trois  Fonts.  Out  of  a  total 
population  for  the  city  proper,1  as  reported  in  the  census  of 
1894,  of  nineteen  thousand  seven  hundred  and  twenty-two, 
probably  not  less  than  from  five  thousand  to  six  thousand 
were  whites.  Indeed,  some  who  profess  to  have  known  the 
city  well,  assert  that  the  white  population  could  not  have 
numbered  less  than  eight  thousand, — or  more  than  is 
contained  in  the  capitals  of  most  of  the  Lesser  Antilles 
collectively.  Saint  Pierre  is  described  as  having  been  a 
city  of  gay  and  open  life,  and  with  a  moral  tone  perhaps 
considerably  lower  than  that  of  most  tropical  cities.  How- 
ever this  may  be,  it  is  certain  that  the  city  was  the 
attracting  focus  of  the  island,  and  to  it  gravitated  all 
classes  of  the  island  community,  especially  those  who  had 

been  favored  by  fortune's  wheel.     It  is  sometimes  referred 

2 


18 


SAINT   PIEEEE   AND    ITS   EUINS 


to  as  the  most  beautiful  city  of  the  West  Indies,  but  apart 
from  its  charming  location  and  the  manner  of  its  construc- 
tion, in  rising  tiers  lined  to  the  surrounding  heights,  there 
would  seem  to  be  little  to  justify  this  extreme  idealization. 


THE   THEATRE— SAINT    PIERRE 


Although  boasting  of  a  number  of  stately,  even  imposing, 
edifices,  such  as  the  cathedral,  town-hall,  military  hospital, 
club  and  theatre,  and  several  attractive  promenades  and 
squares,  the  city,  as  Hearn  describes  it,  was  in  the  main 
old-fashioned,  with  narrow  streets,  stone  and  stucco  houses 


SAINT   PIERRE   AND   ITS   RUINS  19 

of  two  and  three  stories,  and  steeply  pitching  roofs  of  red- 
tiling.  It  was  closely  pressed  together  so  as  to  keep  out  the 
tropical  heat,  and  had  the  benefit  of  abundant  shade-trees 
both  in  the  public  ways  and  the  numerous  house  gardens. 
The  streets  were  lit  by  electricity,  as  they  are  to-day  in 
Fort-de-Fram  e.  On  the  heights  outside  of  the  main  city, 
especially  along  the  valley  of  the  romantic  Roxelane,  the 
better-to-do  had  erected  charming  villas,  and  embellished 
their  sites  with  gardens  of  luxuriant  vegetation.  The 
wrecks  of  some  of  these  still  remain,  sufficiently  to  show 
their  attractive  features.  Saint  Pierre  was  the  educational 
centre  of  the  island,  and  its  Lycee  was  diplomated  with  the 
rank  of  similar  institutions  in  France.  One  of  the  most 
notable  institutions  of  the  city  was  the  botanical  garden, 
near  the  foot  of  Mont  Parnasse,  which  at  one  time  had  the 
enviable  reputation  of  being  the  most  beautiful  of  all  the 
lesser  botanical  gardens  of  the  tropics.  Many  of  the 
plants  of  tropical  cultivation  in  the  famous  Jardin  des 
Plantes  of  Paris  had  been  obtained  from  this  garden.  Of 
late  years,  however,  the  Saint  Pierre  garden  had  been  but 
indifferently  cared  for,  the  arboretums  had  run  to  wild 
jungle,  exquisitely  beautiful  in  the  wealth  and  exuberance 
of  tropical  vegetation,  while  the  science  of  cultivation  was 
being  but  little  attended  to.  The  lovely  waterfall  remained 
as  the  chief  attraction  to  the  people. 

Along  its  ocean-  frontage,  Saint  Pierre  had  a  length  of 
about  two  miles,  extending  from  the  Anse  north  of  Carbet 
to  beyond  the  Roxelane  River.  Its  parts  were  respectively 
designated  the  Mouttlage  (towards  the  south),  named  from 


20  SAINT   PIEEEE   AND   ITS   EUINS 

the  place  of  debarkation  and  landing  ;  the  Centre  ;  the  Fort, 
north  of  the  Roxelane ;  and  the  Trois  Fonts,  situated  along 
the  latter  river  and  east  of  the  Centre.  The  Mouillage 
was  dominated  by  the  abrupt  height,  constructed  of  ancient 
lava  or  basalt,  known  as  the  Morne  d'Orange,  along  whose 
sea-face  the  road  from  Carbet  descends. 

The  picturesque  rock-bedded  Roxelane,  whose  source  is 
in  the  southwestern  slopes  of  the  Pelee  buttress,  traversed 
the  city  in  its  northern  quarter,  and  was  crossed  by  a  num- 
ber of  bridges,  two  of  which,  both  of  them  apparently  firm, 
still  span  the  lower  course.  Above  it,  on  hanging  walls,  as 
it  were,  were  located  some  of  the  most  attractive  villas  of 
the  wealthier  classes.  Beyond  the  Riviere-des-Peres  on 
the  north  followed  the  suburb  of  Fonds-Core.  The  foci 
of  the  active  and  social  life  of  the  city  were  the  Mouillage 
or  landing,  with  its  hundreds  of  casks  of  sugar  and  rum ; 
the  savane  or  city  green ;  the  Place  Bertin ;  and  the  Rues 
Victor  Hugo  and  Bouille.  A  single  line  of  cars  helped 
the  city  to  rapid  transit. 

When  I  visited  Saint  Pierre  towards  the  close  of  May 
and  in  early  June  the  weather  was  very  hot.  The  sun 
beat  down  with  intense  energy,  and  we  wondered  how  the 
city  could  have  maintained  its  favor  with  the  Martiniquians. 
Situated  on  the  leeward  side  of  the  mountains,  the  site 
lacks  wholly  in  the  advantage  that  is  offered  by  the  trade- 
winds  to  the  locations  on  the  east  coast.  There  were  also 
few  public  gardens  and  breathing  places,  which  must  have 
contributed  much  to  the  discomfort  of  the  summer  inhabi- 
tants. It  was  this  that  made  Morne  Rouge,  only  four  miles 


ALONG   THE    ROXELANE— SAINT    PIERRE 


SAINT   PIERRE   AND   ITS   BTJINS  21 

distant,  the  resort  of  Saint  Pierre.  Charmingly  located  at 
an  elevation  of  fourteen  hundred  feet  above  the  city,  on  a 
ridge  uniting  Mont  Pelee  with  the  contreforts  of  the  Pitons 
de  Carbet,  and  looking  down  over  both  the  Atlantic  and 
Caribbean  waters,  it  received  the  softening  winds  from  the 
east,  and  gave  to  its  inhabitants  in  a  tropical  clime  the 
blessings  of  a  temperate  region.  Morne  Rouge  is  said  to 
have  housed  at  times  not  less  than  from  two  thousand  to 
three  thousand  people  coming  from  Saint  Pierre. 

On  the  evening  of  August  30,  when  Mont  Pelee  again 
swept  out  its  fiery  tongue,  and  laid  to  waste  one  of  the 
most  charming  spots  in  the  whole  island  of  Martinique, 
Morne  Rouge  met  the  fate  that  overtook  Saint  Pierre.  The 
city  was  wiped  out,  and  the  greater  part  of  its  population 
annihilated.  Besides  the  church,  whose  noble  spire  still 
rises  mockingly  over  the  blighted  landscape,  only  a  few 
houses  remain ;  gardens  and  woodland  were  swept  out  of 
existence.  In  the  place  of  all  this  is  a  desert — perhaps 
more  soft  than  that  of  Saint  Pierre,  but  reading  the  same 
history. 

The  traveller  who  to-day  visits  the  site  of  Saint  Pierre 
sees  hardly  more  than  a  mass  of  tumbled  ruins.  Where 
before  were  the  Rue  Victor  Hugo,  with  its  rows  of  two- 
and  three-storied,  pitched-roofed  shops  and  residences,  and 
the  Rue  Bouille,  are  heaps  of  concrete  and  boulders,  piled 
three  and  five  feet,  and  more.  The  Place  Bertin  is  known 
by  what  remains  of  its  fountain,  and  by  the  prostrate  trees 
that  have  stretched  themselves  in  parallel  lines  to  the  south. 
Tier  after  tier  of  rubbled  bulwark  rises  up  to  the  surround- 


22  SAINT   PIEERB  AND   ITS   RUINS 

ing  heights,  but  above,  as  well  as  below,  there  are  only 
ruined  walls,  with  heaps  of  decay  lying  between  them. 
Not  a  roof  remains  to  indicate  that  any  habitation  ever  had 
a  cover ;  not  a  chimney  to  recall  the  cheer  and  welcome  of 
the  fireside.  The  eye  follows  long  lines  of  half-standing 
walls,  more  like  the  arches  of  ancient  aqueducts  than  parts 
of  buildings,  the  greater  number  to-day  running  parallel 
with  the  ocean  front.  There  is  little  that  rises  above  two 
stories,  and  hardly  anything  to  half  that  level.  Flats  of 
ash  rise  up  here  and  there  to  what  may  have  been  roof 
corners,  elsewhere  the  covering  is  so  light  that  the  old 
paving-blocks  come  to  the  surface.  At  intervals  bits  of 
polished  mosaic  paving  appear  through  the  ash,  showing 
where  attractive  house  gardens  had  been  located ;  stone 
garden-posts  and  flower-stands  lie  about,  and  with  them 
fragments  of  decorative  railing.  The  old  club  bathing 
establishment  is  still  there  with  water  in  its  basement,  but 
its  broad  flights  of  steps,  with  the  great  flower- vases  stand- 
ing on  either  side,  lead  only  to  heaps  of  broken  stone  and 
mortar.  We  see  the  great  palm  that  stood  in  the  court  of 
the  Saint  Pierre  Club,  but  only  as  a  charred  stump  rising 
from  its  garden  of  desolate  debris.  These  and  other  land- 
marks help  to  frame  a  picture  of  the  city  which  seems 
destined  never  again  to  rise  from  its  ashes. 

When  I  visited  Saint  Pierre  on  the  25th  of  May,  five 
days  after  the  second  great  eruption,  the  color  of  life  had 
been  entirely  driven  from  it.  Everything  was  gray  or  of 
the  color  of  baked  and  mudded  earth,  little  different  from 
the  stern  landscape  which  adjoins  on  the  north  and  north- 


SAINT   PIERRE   AND   ITS   RUINS 


23 


east.  There  were  no  pinks,  or  yellows,  of  blues  that  give 
the  life  to  habitations  in  the  tropics.  Save  for  the  small 
ants  that  were  already  beginning  to  crawl  about  and  recon- 
struct for  themselves  new  homes,  the  ruins  gave  out  no 


RUE    VICTOR    HUGO— SAINT   PIERRE 


evidence  of  the  living,  whether  of  man,  of  beast,  or  bird. 
An  impressive  silence,  disturbed  only  by  the  human  scaven- 
gers who  were  prowling  about  for  observation  and  study, 
prevailed  everywhere ;  and  not  even  the  angry  volcano  to 
the  northeast,  with  its  hurling  clouds  of  mud  and  ash, 


24  SAINT   PIERRE   AND   ITS   RUINS 

interfered  with  the  general  quiet  of  the  scene.  Compared 
with  Pompeii,  Saint  Pierre  appeared  ten  times  more  ancient. 
The  green  and  fertile  slopes  of  Campania,  with  their  nest- 
ling cottages  and  cultivated  fields,  are  here  wanting ;  they 
existed  once,  and  not  many  days  before,  hut  they  had 
passed  for  the  time.  These  make  modern  even  an  ancient 
field.  In  Pompeii  the  eye  has  had  restored  to  it  the  special 
activities  of  man  ;  he  reads  the  life  of  the  household,  hears 
the  clamor  of  the  market-place,  follows  the  debate  in  the 
Forum,  and  gambles  on  the  wheels  of  the  chariots  as  they 
whirl  around  the  circus  field.  In  Saint  Pierre,  for  those 
who  haye  not  known  it  before,  there  is  nothing  of  this. 
Though  its  walls  are  modern,  though  everything  that  per- 
tains to  their  construction  and  everything  that  has  been 
found  within  is  modern,  the  city  itself  looks  as  though  it 
had  been  deserted  at  a  time  when  man  was  still  prepared 
to  be  a  wanderer,  long  before  the  beautiful  sculptures  of 
Pompeii  had  been  carved,  long  before  the  paintings  had 
been  put  on  walls  to  charm  and  adorn. 

For  two  miles  or  more  the  ruins  continue ;  you  know 
the  streets  by  their  standing  walls,  you  recognize  some  of 
the  houses  by  what  the  walls  still  carry.  Here  is  the  cor- 
ner of  the  cathedral,  there  the  municipal  building,  and 
farther  to  one  side  the  wall  of  the  military  hospital.  Only 
a  few  days  before  it  still  bore  the  clock,  with  the  hands 
marking  eight 2  minutes  of  eight,  which  told  the  precise 
time  at  which  the  catastrophe  took  place. 

We  followed  clumps  of  charred  tree-trunks  along  what 
was  the  ocean  promenade,  and  from  them  passed  to  the 


SAINT   PIEERE   AND   ITS   EUINS  25 

square  or  Place  Bertin,  where,  in  the  shade  of  its  lofty 
trees  and  around  its  attractive  fountain,  the  populace  met 
for  recreation  and  business.  What  is  there  to-day  ?  Great 
tree-trunks  stretched  in  line,  their  branches  buried  in  dust 
and  turned  almost  to  coal,  their  roots  pointing  to  the  moun- 
tain that  brought  such  devastation. 

We  found  twisted  bars  of  iron,  great  masses  of  roof 
sheathing  wrapped  like  cloth  about  the  posts  upon  which 
they  had  been  flung,  and  iron  girders  looped  and  festooned 
as  if  they  had  been  made  of  rope.  We  climbed  over  and 
under  ruins,  over  roofs  and  into  cellars,  and  everywhere 
was  the  same  lifeless  quiet.  Great  heaps  of  rubbish  lay 
on  all  sides  of  us,  and  on  every  side  they  bore  evidence  of 
the  terrible  force  that  laid  them  low.  We  seemed  to  be 
wandering  through  a  city  that  had  been  blown  from  the 
mouth  of  a  cannon,  and  not  one  that  had  been  destroyed 
by  any  force  of  nature. 

Yet  stranger  things  were  found  here.  We  stumbled 
upon  little  cups  of  china  that  were  still  perfect  in  all  their 
form,  upon  corked  vessels  in  which  water  remained  pure 
and  unchanged,  and  upon  little  packets  of  starch  in  which 
the  starch  granules  remained  as  when  they  were  first  put 
in.  It  seemed  remarkable  that  the  great  storm  that  had  so 
ruthlessly  stamped  out  the  life  of  man  should  have  pro- 
tected and  left  unharmed  these  little  things  that  belonged 
to  his  household.  Here,  in  the  chemist's  shop,  were  some 
of  his  things,  untouched.  Even  from  the  spigot  of  the 
street  fountain  cold  water  was  still  running,  as  it  ran  of 
old.  Here  lay  bundles  of  clay  pipes,  with  the  clay  un- 


26  SAINT   PIEEEE   AND   ITS   EUINS 

burned,  in  nearly  the  same  places  where  they  had  been 
offered  for  sale  across  the  counter.  High  up  in  the  town 
I  found  the  sounding-board  of  a  piano,  with  many  of  its 
strings  still  tightly  wound  about  their  pegs. 

All  this  seemed  more  like  a  dream  than  a  reality.  As 
bits  of  beautiful  mosaic  paving  came  out  of  the  ashes,  we 
asked  ourselves,  Are  these  never  to  be  trod  again  ?  Are 
there  to  be  no  more  flowers  and  plants  in  the  gardens  about 
which  bits  of  fence-railing  remain  ?  Are  the  glad  faces  no 
more  to  be  seen  of  those  who  sat  on  the  porches  and  veran- 
das, where  only  broken  columns  now  stand  ? 

We  wandered  sadly  along.  One  of  our  party  told  us 
that  a  group  of  bodies  lay  near.  Yes,  in  the  bath-room  of 
a  private  house  lay  six,  burned  in  flesh  until  they  were 
hardly  recognizable  as  bodies.  A  woman  was  stretched 
on  her  back  at  the  bottom  of  the  bath-tub,  with  her  left 
arm  thrown  out  as  if  to  grasp  something  in  her  bitter 
anguish.  Near  by  was  an  infant,  hardly  too  large  to  be 
carried  in  the  arms,  and  beside  it  the  body  of  another 
woman,  crouched  as  if  in  agony  and  despair.  To  this 
room  probably  all  had  retired,  expecting  a  moment  of 
relief  from  the  tornado  of  death  that  swept  over  them. 
"We  came  across  another  group,  eight  in  number.  They 
told  the  same  history  as  the  first. 

The  thousands  of  bodies  that  lie  here  have  been  partly 
burned,  and  nearly  all  are  buried — buried  by  the  con- 
tinuing fall  of  ashes  from  the  volcano.  It  is  a  strange 
fate  that  the  mountain  whose  eruption  cost  the  lives  of  so 
many  should  also  give  to  them  their  natural  burial.  It 


SAINT   PIEEEE   AND   ITS   KUINS  27 

continues  in  its  work  of  activity  as  if  nothing  had  hap- 
pened, mocking  the  beautiful  world  that  surrounds  it. 
Miles  high  into  the  air  it  is  still  puffing  its  steam  and 
ashes,  and  from  its  interior  still  issues  that  deep  thunder  that 
more  than  once  before  gave  warning  which  was  not  heeded. 

What  to  many  must  appear  most  singular  in  connec- 
tion with  the  terrible  catastrophe  of  May  8,  is  that  the 
stroke  of  death  followed  a  course  that  left  little  behind  to 
tell  its  own  history.  The  student  of  geology  wanders 
among  the  ruins  of  a  former  prosperous  city,  and  seeks  in 
vain  for  those  signs  of  volcanic  and  seismic  activity  which 
are  and  have  always  been  associated  with  the  destruction- 
dealing  powers  of  volcanoes.  He  searches  in  vain  for  the 
rifts  that  may  have  tumbled  the  miles  of  buildings — in 
vain  for  the  lava-flows  with  which  history  has  associated 
Etna  and  Vesuvius.  A  force  of  men  could  almost  dig  out 
this  modern  Pompeii  in  a  day  or  two,  so  feeble  in  most 
parts  is  the  ash  that  has  impounded  the  streets,  so  gently 
soft  the  material  that  the  great  volcano  has  vomited  out. 
Yet  on  every  side  is  the  most  hopeless  wreck  that  can  be 
conceived  of — a  picture  of  absolute  ruin  and  desolation  that 
has  perhaps  never  before  been  witnessed.  "  Whence  and 
how  ?"  we  ask  ourselves,  and  the  question  still  remains  in 
a  measure  unanswered,  and  may  forever  remain  with  only  a 
partial  solution. 

The  aspect  of  the  ruined  city  as  I  found  it  at  the  time 
of  my  first  visit  differed  considerably  from  that  imme- 
diately following  the  8th  of  May,  and  had  manifestly  been 
largely  shaped  by  the  eruption  of  May  20.  After  its 


28  SAINT  PIEEEE   AND   ITS   EUINS 

first  destruction,  although  the  extinguishment  of  life  was 
complete,  rows  of  houses  were  left  standing  almost  intact, 
notably  in  the  central  quarters  of  the  city.  Photographs 
taken  several  days  after  the  catastrophe  plainly  show  this 
feature,  as  well  as  other  features  of  equal  significance,  and 


Photo.  Heilprin 

THE   CATHEDRAL   OF   SAINT   PIERRE— AUGUST   23,   1902 

permit  us  to  make  an  interesting  comparison  and  study 
of  the  results  determined  by  the  two  eruptions.  Many 
roofs  were  still  in  position,  the  massive  building  of  the 
mayoralty  carried  its  overhanging  cornice,  and  the  Hopi- 
tal  Militaire  its  walled  (now  historic)  clock.  Many  signs 
remained  on  the  buildings,  and  there  were  other  evidences 
of  an  only  recently  passed  activity.  At  the  later  day,  all 


SAINT   PIEEEE   AND   ITS   RUINS  29 

this  had  changed.  The  second  blast,  that  in  intensity  was 
nearly,  if  not  fully,  the  equal  of  the  first,  laid  to  ground 
what  still  remained  high,  and  gave  to  the  city  that  dis- 
tinctive oriented  aspect  which  it  now  presents.  The  greater 
number  of  the  massive  walls  run  parallel  with  the  sea,  or 
in  line  to  the  volcano ;  and  there  are  few  that  have  been 
preserved  in  their  full  height  that  take  a  direction  at  right 
angles  to  this.  It  would  thus  seem  that  the  destroying 
force  of  the  eruption  of  May  20  expended  its  main 
energy  along  a  north  and  south  line,  shattering  everything 
that  was  more  directly  opposed  to  its  course.  This  was  not 
so  markedly  the  case  on  May  8,  when  much  of  the  force 
was  directed  radially.  It  is  easy,  however,  to  exaggerate 
the  importance  of  the  testimony  carried  by  this  alignment 
of  walls ;  a  bird's-eye  view  of  the  ruins,  like  that  obtained 
from  Morne  d' Orange,  shows  a  far  greater  number  of  the 
transverse  walls  standing  and  more  regularity  in  the  streets 
than  appear  to  the  eye  of  the  stranger  wandering  among 
the  debris.  The  city,  in  fact,  is  clearly  outlined  in  its 
north-to-south  and  east-to-west  streets. 

The  force  of  the  destroying  power  was  stupendous,  and 
wrought  a  ruin  the  like  of  which  is  paralleled  only  in  the 
path  of  a  violent  tornado.  The  most  massive  machinery 
was  bent,  torn  and  shattered ;  house-fronts,  three  and  four 
feet  thick,  crumbled  and  were  blown  out  as  if  constructed 
only  of  cards.  The  great  cathedral  bell  lay  buried  beneath 
the  framework  of  iron  which  had  supported  it,  tossed  from 
the  church  to  whose  chimes  it  had  so  long  added  its  sweet 
music. 


30  SAINT   PIEEEE   AND   ITS   KUINS 

Our  examination  of  the  ruins  showed  plainly,  what 
indeed  had  already  been  noted  before,  that  the  destruction 
was  almost  entirely  superficial.  The  destroying  agent  swept 
the  surface,  but  left  almost  untouched  that  which  was  be- 
neath or  buried  within  it.  There  were  no  displacements 
due  to  earthquake  tremors,  as,  in  fact,  there  were  no  earth- 
quakes that  could  properly  be  called  such.  It  was  this 
remarkable  superficial  current  which  left  intact  the  contents 
of  safes  and  burial  vaults,  of  material  that  had  been  placed 
in  subways,  and  permitted  water  that  had  been  contained 
in  large  stoppered  vessels  to  remain  unchanged.  For  days 
after  the  eruption,  cool  water  continued  to  flow  from  the 
faucets  of  the  basement  wall  of  the  Hotel-de-Ville  and 
from  other  fountain-heads  and  hydrants  of  the  city ;  and  I 
am  assured  by  Signor  Parravicino,  Italian  Consul  at  Barba- 
dos, who  early  searched  the  ruins  for  a  lost  daughter, 
that  this  condition  already  existed  on  the  10th  of  May. 
Still  eight  days  later,  water  was  found  issuing  from  a  house- 
pipe,  cool  and  potable. 

Except  on  the  broad  principle  of  a  fortuitous  happening, 
it  is  difficult  to  account  for  the  anomalous  conduct  of  this  de- 
stroying blast, — its  deadly  stroke  at  one  place  and  its  avoid- 
ance of  action  at  another.  Tree-trunks,  though  burnt  and 
bereft  of  all  their  appendages,  were  left  standing  in  what  must 
necessarily  have  been  the  centre  of  the  storm ;  bunches  of 
clay  pipes,  exhibiting  no  traces  of  either  burning  or  scorch- 
ing, were  left  at  many  points  where  manifestly  they  had 
been  put  on  sale  ;  and  packets  of  starch  and  cereals  were 
passed  so  as  to  leave  their  contents  undisturbed.  Some 


SAINT   PIEEEE   AND   ITS   KUINS  31 

cases  have  been  reported  where  objects  had  been  fused  in 
their  coverings,  when  the  coverings  themselves  had  re- 
mained untouched.  A  correspondent  who  visited  Saint 
Pierre  about  ten  days  after  its  destruction  speaks  of  finding 
a  bird,  dead,  but  unchanged  in  its  plumage,  lying  at  the 
bottom  of  a  wooden  cage,  which  still  hung  seaward  from 
the  balcony  of  a  shattered  house ;  and  there  seems  to  be 
enough  evidence  to  sustain  the  statement  that  alongside  the 
body  of  a  charred  man  was  found  a  box  of  matches,  the 
contents  of  which  had  escaped  ignition.  The  wonder,  in- 
deed, is  that  with  such  peculiarities  or  vagaries  in  action, 
the  destruction  of  human  life  should  have  been  so  absolute. 
Manifestly  a  number  of  causes,  rather  than  a  single  one, 
contributed  to  the  general  destruction. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  indicate  any  quarter  of  Saint 
Pierre  which  suffered  less  than  any  other,  unless,  possibly, 
it  be  a  part  of  the  city  of  the  Fort.  Here,  although  buried 
beneath  a  roofing  of  ash,  there  is  still  a  semblance  of  con- 
tinuity maintained,  and  from  a  distance  the  aspect  is  that 
of  deserted  walls  built  against  a  hillside.  Although  nearer 
to  the  volcano  than  any  other  part  of  the  city,  it  may  still 
be  reasonably  assumed  that  the  tornadic  draught  had  not 
in  this  section  developed  to  the  extent  that  it  did  in  the 
south.  On  the  other  hand,  the  quantity  of  ash  and  mud 
covering  the  ruins  north  of  the  Roxelane  is  far  in  excess  of 
what  it  is  in  the  other  quarters,  and  in  some  places  rises 
well  up  to  and  over  what  would  be  the  roofs  of  the  houses. 
This  is  also  true  of  the  near  section  of  the  city  lying  con- 
tiguous to  the  Roxelane  on  its  south  side.  We  were  sur- 


32  SAINT   PIEEEE   AND   ITS   EUINS 

prised  to  find,  on  the  25th,  that  the  iron  truss  bridge  across 
this  stream  was  standing,  and  I  found  it  still  firmly  intact 
at  a  later  visit,  on  August  24,  when,  according  to  report, 
it  should  have  been  long  in  ruins. 

The  destruction  of  Saint  Pierre  is  such  that  the  greater 
number  of  the  building-sites  are  unrecognizable  even  to 
those  who  were  most  familiar  with  the  city — or  could  be 
located  only  after  a  careful  and  comparative  study.  Of  all 
the  buildings  destroyed  the  cathedral  almost  alone  presents 
an  architectural  front,  the  stone  coursing  being  retained  on 
the  front  elevation,  with  the  statuary  niches,  and  parts  of 
their  contained  statues.  The  walls  of  the  building  were 
the  most  massively  constructed  of  all  in  Saint  Pierre,  and 
permit  us  to  understand  the  degree  to  which  they  have 
been  preserved.  On  the  other  hand,  the  wreck  of  the 
building  generally  only  emphasizes  the  strength  of  the 
blast  which  swept  it  to  its  doom.  A  number  of  the  more 
prominent  structures  have  been  identified  by  their  step- 
approaches,  which  in  most  cases  have  remained  intact. 
This,  with  the  cellar-ways,  is  all  that  remains  of  the 
Theatre  in  the  northern  part  of  the  city.  It  is  almost  idle 
to  speculate  upon  the  number  of  ways  in  which  the  masonry 
of  Saint  Pierre  was  shattered  and  thrown  to  the  ground. 
That  the  greater  part  of  the  destruction  was  the  result  of 
a  direct  impact  from  the  visiting  shocks — annihilation  in 
the  path  of  a  tornadic  current — cannot  be  questioned  ;  and 
it  is  merely  a  point  to  what  degree  this  annihilation  had 
been  hastened  or  furthered  by  the  action  directly  upon 
mortar  of  intense  heat,  and  of  possible  electric  strokes. 


SAINT   PIEKEE   AND   ITS   KUINS 

This  is  a  consideration,  however,  that  seems  to  have  n< 
approach  at  this  time. 

The  ash  that  in  its  entirety  covers  Saint  Pierre  is  incon- 
siderable, and  the  quantity  in  no  way  justifies  the  extrava- 
gant accounts  that  have  been  published  regarding  it.  Ex- 
cept where  helped  by  mud-flows,  or  where  it  has  accumu- 
lated in  wind-drifts,  or  in  wall-fans,  it  rarely  exceeds  three 
or  four  feet;  and  over  the  greater  part  of  the  city  its 
measure,  even  after  later  falls,  is  hardly  more  than  a  foot 
or  two ;  in  many  places  it  is  much  less.  It  is  true  that 
rains  have  considerably  lessened  the  quantity  since  the  first 
fall,  but  perhaps  not  to  an  extent  more  than  has  been  com- 
pensated for  by  subsequent  discharges.  Les  Colonies,  a 
Saint  Pierre  journal,  reported  that  already  on  May  2, 
fifteen  inches  (forty  centimetres)  of  ash  covered  the  savane 
of  the  city,  but  this  is  probably  an  accidental  overstate- 
ment of  the  quantity. 

From  such  evidence  as  it  was  possible  to  obtain,  I 
should  assume  that  the  greater  number  of  the  bodies  found 
at  Saint  Pierre  were  destitute  of  clothing,  which  had 
either  been  burnt  off  or  swept  off  in  the  passage  of  the 
tornadic  blast.  In  a  number  of  places,  located  nearer  to 
the  margin  of  the  field  of  destruction,  as  on  the  heights  of 
Trois  Ponts,  or  those  beyond  towards  Morne  Rpuge,  and 
again  southward  towards  Carbet,  many  clothed  bodies 
were  recovered  ;  and  on  some  of  these  the  clothing  had 
hardly,  if  at  all,  been  disturbed.  Even  in  the  same  wagon- 
side  the  clothed  and  the  unclothed  were  found  associated. 
The  searching  power  and  penetration  of  the  death-dealing 


34  SAINT   PIEBBE   AND   ITS   EUINS 

agent  are  thus  brought  impressively  home  to  us,  and  the 
conditions  give  a  clue  as  to  what  must  have  been  its  nature. 
There  is  a  fair  agreement  in  the  report  that  asserts  that 
in  a  large  number  of  cases  the  bodies  were  found  with  the 
head  turned  to  the  ground,  and  many  had  the  hand  placed 
over  the  mouth  and  the  nostrils.  The  latter  condition  is 
certainly  expressive  of  a  desire  to  avoid  a  gaseous  or  heated 
inhalation.  The  thrown  condition  of  the  body  can  reason- 
ably be  explained  on  the  supposition  that  the  people  gen- 
erally turned  their  backs,  whether  in  flight  or  otherwise,  to 
the  dragon  of  death  that  was  pursuing  them,  and  were 
then  prostrated  forward  by  the  sweep  of  the  tornado. 
Bodies  were  found  in  unusual  numbers  at  the  intersections 
of  streets,  and  particularly  so  in  the  Place  de  Mouillage, 
where  the  people  had  gathered  to  seek  spiritual  shelter  in 
the  shadow  of  the  cathedral  cross.  Nearly  all  of  the 
bodies  had  at  the  time  of  our  visit  been  removed  through 
burning,  calcining,  or  otherwise,  or  been  buried  beneath 
new  deposits  of  volcanic  ash. 


in 

THE    CATACLYSM    OF   MAY   8 

THE  cataclysm  of  May  8,  1902,  by  which  a  mountain, 
hitherto  obscure,  was  suddenly  brought  into  fame,  stands 
unparalleled  in  the  history  of  volcanoes  for  its  appalling 
nature  and  the  conditions  which  surround  its  existence. 
Nor,  indeed,  is  there  anything  that  is  properly  compara- 
ble with  it.  Papandayang,  in  Java,  in  its  great  eruption 
of  1772,  is  assumed  to  have  wrecked  forty  villages  or  more ; 
and  Asamayama,  in  Japan,  eleven  years  later,  was  perhaps 
equally  destructive.3  But  the  data  associated  with  the  his- 
tories of  these  mountains  are  to  an  extent  of  questionable 
authority,  and  leave  much  room  for  inquiry ;  and  in 
neither  case,  while  the  evisceration  of  the  earth  was  stu- 
pendous, was  there  a  material  destruction  of  the  type  that 
is  reflected  in  the  wrecking  of  Saint  Pierre.  The  violent 
eruption,  in  1888,  of  Bandai-San,  in  Japan,  whereby  a 
quarter  of  the  summit  of  the  volcano  was  swept  avalanche- 
like  over  a  populous  district,  was  thought  to  have  been 
responsible  for  the  loss  of  several  thousand  lives ;  but  the 
official  surveys  show  the  number  of  killed  to  have  been 
less  than  five  hundred. 

It  is  certain  that  the  victims  of  the  eruption,  in  August, 
1883,  of  the  minor  volcano  of  Krakatao  numbered  up- 
ward of  thirty-six  thousand.  In  this  extraordinary  cata- 
clysm, whose  far-reaching  phenomena  were  noted  and 

35 


36  THE   CATACLYSM   OF   MAY   8 

studied  at  more  distantly,  removed  points  of  the  earth's 
surface  than  the  phenomena  of  any  other  eruption,  the 
explosive  force  was  most  prodigious,  and  the  result  of  a 
kind  which  even  the  scientific  mind  was  slow  to  recognize. 
An  island  annihilated,  the  report  of  the  explosion  trans- 
mitted thousands  of  miles  over  the  earth's  surface,  and 
clouds  of  ash  kept  suspended  for  a  year  or  more  in  the 
upper  zone  of  the  atmosphere — these  were  some  of  the 
features  which  impressed  upon  the  geologist  and  physicist 
for  the  first  time  the  full  immensity  of  the  power  that  was 
resident  in  the  volcanic  recesses  of  the  globe.  It  has  been 
estimated  that  eighteen  million  cubic  metres  of  earth  ma- 
terial were  disengaged  from  the  earth  in  the  course  of  this 
eruption.  Much  the  greater  part  of  the  destruction  of 
human  life  was  consequent  to  the  washing  of  the  adjacent 
island-shores  by  rapidly-following  "  tidal"  waves,  whose 
translation  to  distant  parts  of  the  globe  was  phenomenal. 
The  rise  of  this  flood-water  was  in  some  parts  over  a 
hundred  feet.4 

The  volcanic  event  that  probably  to  most  minds  will 
first  suggest  a  comparison  with  the  catastrophe  of  Mont 
Pelee  is  the  destruction  of  Pompeii  and  Herculaneum  by 
Vesuvius,  and  certainly  no  other  appeals  so  forcibly 
through  its  tragic  aspects  and  the  relations  which  attach  to 
a  civilized  life.  The  physiographic  construction  of  the 
land  and  the  position  of  the  destroyed  cities,  moreover, 
permit  of  a  certain  geographic  parallel  being  established 
between  the  two  episodes.  Pompeii  was  located  one  mile 
farther  from  Vesuvius  than  Saint  Pierre  was  from  Mont 


THE   CATACLYSM   OF   MAY   8  37 

Pelee,  and  both  volcanoes,  so  far  as  can  now  be  told,  were 
of  almost  exactly  the  same  height.  The  luminous,  but 
necessarily  brief,  description  of  the  events  surrounding  the 
eruption  of  Vesuvius  that  is  given  to  us  by  the  younger 
Pl.ny,  which  is  the  only  reliable  information  that  we 
possess  of  this  historic  event,  leaves  the  student  of  geology, 
even  with  the  testimony  that  is  obtainable  from  the  ruined 
walls  and  their  contents,  still  in  doubt  as  to  some  of  the 
main  features  of  the  catastrophe.  These,  indeed,  are  so 
obscure  and  are  brought  out  with  so  many  aspects  in  the 
light  of  the  events  of  Saint  Pierre,  that  it  has  been  thought 
well  to  give  them  special  consideration  in  a  chapter  devoted 
to  a  comparison  of  the  phenomena  in  the  two  cases. 

The  destruction  of  Saint  Pierre  came  to  the  city  not 
unheralded.  For  days  before,  the  volcano  had  been  vio- 
lently active,  and  the  form  of  activity  that  it  assumed  was 
of  a  kind  that  should  have  immediately  suggested  disaster. 
Other  volcanoes,  like  Vesuvius  and  Etna,  have  similar 
paroxysms,  and  are  not  particularly  feared ;  but  their  his- 
tories are  long  known,  and  their  modern  periods  of  inac- 
tivity are  brief  compared  with  even  the  last  phase  of 
inactivity  on  the  part  of  Pelee.  It  was  in  early  May  and 
late  April  a  closed  mountain,  which  suddenly  broke  from 
its  anchorage.  Vast  columns  of  steam  and  ash  had  been  and 
were  being  blown  out,  boiling  mud  was  flowing  from  its 
sides,  and  terrific  rumblings  came  from  its  interior.  Lurid 
lights  hung  over  the  crown  at  night-time,  and  lightning 
flashed  in  dazzling  sheets  through  its  cloud-world.  What 
further  warnings  could  any  volcano  give?  A  blind  but 


38  THE   CATACLYSM   OF  MAY   8 

impressive  belief  that  nature  would  not  harm,  joined  to 
appeals  against  common  sense  made  by  a  few  who  thought 
they  knew  best,  held  the  population  to  its  doom.  Not 
even  the  discovery  of  a  newly-formed  crater-cone,  made 
ten  days  before  the  eruption,  seems  to  have  in  any  way 
counselled  a  fairer  judgment  of  coming  events. 

Statements  conflict  as  to  the  earliest  time  when  Pelee 
gave  signs  of  a  renewal  of  activity,  but  there  is  no  question 
that  evidences  of  unrest,  whether  in  light  emissions  of  vapor 
or  in  rumbling  detonations,  had  been  apparent  to  a  few 
several  months  in  advance  of  the  catastrophe.  The  earliest 
authentic  record  that  I  have  been  able  to  find  of  an  actual 
observation  is  contained  in  the  note-book  of  M.  Louis  des 
Grottes,  an  accurate  student  of  nature,  who  made  the 
ascent  of  the  volcano  to  the  Lac  des  Palmistes  on  March 
23,  and  noted  his  observations  with  care  and  precision. 
Looking  down  from  the  summit  of  the  mountain,  the 
Morne  de  La  Croix,  a  fairly  clear  view  was  obtained  of  the 
basin  of  the  Etang  Sec,  and  it  was  plainly  seen  that  it  was 
sending  out  vapors  at  several  points.  A  strong  and  incom- 
moding odor  of  sulphur  was  remarked  by  the  observers 
even  at  their  elevated  position. 

Following  the  habit  of  those  ascending  the  volcano  to 
inscribe  impressions  on  the  walls  of  the  little  chapel  of 
"  Our  Lady  of  the  Lake"  (Notre  Dame  de  V Etang},  which 
stood  beside  the  mountain  tarn,  the  record  was  placed : 
"  Aujourd?  kui,  23  Mars,  le  crater e  de  V  Etang  Sec  est  en 
eruption"  (this  day,  March  23,  the  crater  of  the  Etang  Sec 
(dry  tarn)  is  in  eruption).  M.  des  Grottes'  note-book 


THE   CATACLYSM   OF  MAY   8  39 

account  of  his  excursion,  a  translation  of  which  appears,  by 
permission,  in  another  chapter,  is  particularly  instructive, 
since  it  gives  the  only  clear  statement,  so  far  as  I  know,  of 
the  surface  conditions  of  the  mountain  at  a  very  near  period 
preceding  the  eruption. 

The  wholly  accordant  observations  made  by  MM. 
Lalung  and  Roger  Arnoux,  members  of  the  Astronomical 
Society  of  France,  residents  in  Saint  Pierre,  and  communi- 
cated by  them  to  Camille  Flammarion,5  make  it  practically 
certain  that  the  first  true  opening  of  the  volcano  was  on 
April  25.  The  crater,  whose  position  in  the  basin  ef  the 
Etang  Sec  is  clearly  established  by  M.  Arnoux,  then  sud- 
denly broke  into  eruption,  throwing  out  showers  of  rock- 
material  to  heights  of  one  thousand  to  thirteen  hundred 
feet  above  the  mountain. 

During  the  latter  days  of  April,  when,  as  appears  from 
the  letter  of  Mrs.  Prentiss,  wife  of  the  American  Consul, 
the  fumes  of  sulphur  were  so  strong  that  horses  were  falling 
in  the  streets,  and  the  day  of  the  catastrophe  there  were  the 
usual  alternations  of  manifestations  which  attend  volcanic 
outbreaks,  with  a  rapid  convergence  to  a  climax.  The 
cataclysm  had  presented  all  its  antecedent  phases,  and  the 
final  stroke,  when  it  came,  although  accomplishing  its  work 
with  unheard-of  swiftness,  was  not  that  of  a  bolt  from  a 
clear  sky.  At  two  minutes  after  eight  o'clock,  of  the  time 
of  Fort-de-France,  the  morning  of  the  fatal  May  8  saw  a 
destructive  cloud  issue  from  the  fermenting  volcano,  sweep 
with  almost  dazzling  velocity  to  its  lower  slopes,  and  fall 
upon  Saint  Pierre.  The  fiery  messenger  of  death  had  done 


40 


THE   CATACLYSM   OF   MAY   8 


its  work,  and  a  sheet  of  rising  flame  told  that  the  work  was 
complete. 


Judge  Pub.  Co..  New  York 


Copyright 


PELEE    IN    THE    MAY    ERUPTION 


There  are  few  among  the  living  who  were  eye-witnesses 
from  first  to  last  of  the  full  phenomena  that  construct  this 
extraordinary  cataclysm,  or  who  were  permitted  to  follow 
the  sequence  of  events  with  an  intelligence  that  was  not  dis- 


THE   CATACLYSM   OF  MAY   8  41 

turbed  by  incidents  likely  to  affect  the  reason.  The  fright- 
ful and  wholly  unprecedented  nature  of  the  happenings 
have  helped  to  obscure  the  facts,  and  to  inject  into  them  an 
interpretation  which  is  not  permitted  by  a  more  rigid  analy- 
sis of  the  testimony  that  is  presented.  On  the  main  points 
of  the  tragedy,  the  testimony  given  by  the  officers  of  the 
French  cable-ship  Pouyer-Quertier,  which  was  at  the  time 
of  the  disaster  eight  miles  abreast  of  Saint  Pierre,  grap- 
pling for  one  of  the  lost  cables,  appears  to  be  the  most 
trustworthy ;  and  it  is  confirmed  in  its  principal  details  by 
the  testimony  of  other  observers,  notably  the  late  Cure  of 
Morne  Rouge,  Pere  Mary,  Monsieur  Fernand  Clerc  and 
MM.  Arnoux  and  Celestin,  members  of  the  Astronomical 
Society  of  France,  whose  points  of  observation  were  widely 
separated  from  one  another,  and  removed  from  threatening 
danger  at  the  time.  The  nature  of  this  testimony  is  so 
accordant,  that  it  may  be  readily  accepted  as  the  foundation 
upon  which  a  scientific  conclusion  must  be  based. 

At  almost  precisely  two  minutes  after  eight,  of  the  time 
of  Fort-de-France,  a  working  message  was  sent  off  from 
the  Pouyer-Quertier  to  the  Martinique  capital,  but  it  brought 
out  no  reply.  This  was  the  same  minute  of  time  in  which 
the  final  word  was  received  at  Fort-de-France  from  Saint 
Pierre.  It  is  manifest,  therefore,  that  the  difference  of 
local  time  between  the  two  cities  was  ten  minutes,  the 
Hopital  Militaire  regulating  the  time  for  Saint  Pierre. 
From  the  moment  that  the  great  black  cloud  issued  from 
the  volcano  it  was  followed  by  the  officers  of  the  Pouyer- 
Quertier,  who  noted  that  its  forepart  became  luminously 


42  THE   CATACLYSM   OF   MAY   8 

brilliant  as  it  approached  the  sea.  In  an  instant  after 
everything  was  ablaze,  and  flames  shot  out  from  seemingly 
all  points  of  the  city  as  if  from  a  single  brazier.  Light 
detonations,  following  one  another  in  rapid  succession  and 
coming  from  the  direction  of  Saint  Pierre,  were  a  part  of 
the  phenomena  of  the  ignition,  and  it  is  safe  to  assume  that 
they  marked  passages  in  the  exploding  cloud.6  Only  one 
flash  of  lightning  was  noted,  and  that  was  thought  by  some 
to  traverse  the  cloud  in  a  vertical  direction  from  below  up- 
ward. No  flame  of  any  kind  was  observed  previous  to  the 
ignition  of  the  city,  nor  was  any  fire-sheet  seen  to  traverse 
the  air  in  advance  of  the  descending  cloud.  The  further 
incidents  of  the  cataclysm  were  unobservable,  inasmuch  as 
the  land  was  immediately  veiled  in  an  impenetrable  cloud 
of  ash  and  smoke,  and  the  Pouyer-Quertier,  itself  threatened 
by  showers  of  ashes  and  fiery  cinders,  was  obliged  to  seek 
safety  in  flight. 

A  mournful  spectator  of  the  tragedy  that  was  being 
enacted  below  was  M.  Roger  Arnoux,  a  member  of  the 
Astronomical  Society  of  France,  who  from  his  commanding 
position  on  the  Mont  Parnasse,  removed  awhile  from  danger, 
calmly  surveyed  the  most  important  field  of  the  volcano's 
activity.  He,  too,  had  noted  the  death-carrying  black 
cloud  sweep  like  a  serpent's  tongue  after  its  prey,  and  he 
also  observed  its  rolling  motion.  No  trace  of  flame  was 
visible  at  any  part  of  its  course. 

M.  Roux's  account  of  his  observations,  transmitted  to 
Camille  Flammarion,  is  published  in  the  Bulletin  de  la 
Societe  Astronomique  de  France  (August,  1902),  and  pre- 


THE   CATACLYSM   OF   MAY   8  43 

sents  in  very  graphic  form  the  terrible  denouement  which 
he  was  forced  to  observe,  and  in  which  was  involved  the 
loss  of  a  father,  mother,  brother  and  sister.  The  account 
is  clearly  that  of  one  trained  in  observation,  and  it  alone 
presents  in  specific  detail  the  course  of  the  phenomena  from 
an  early  hour  to  its  close. 

"  Having  left  Saint  Pierre/'  writes  M.  Roux,  "  at  about 
five  o'clock  in  the  evening  (May  7),  I  was  witness  to  the 
following  spectacle.  Enormous  rocks,  being  clearly  dis- 
tinguishable, were  being  projected  from  the  crater  to  a 
considerable  elevation,  so  high,  indeed,  as  to  occupy  about 
a  quarter  of  a  minute  in  their  flight,  and  describing  an  arc 
that  passed  considerably  beyond  the  Morne  Lacroix,  the 
culminating  point  of  the  massif.  About  eight  o'clock  of 
the  same  evening  we  recognized  for  the  first  time,  playing 
about  the  crater,  fixed  fires  that  burned  with  a  brilliant 
white  flame.  Shortly  afterwards,  several  detonations,  simi- 
lar to  those  that  had  been  heard  at  Saint  Pierre,  were  noted 
coming  from  the  south,  wThich  confirmed  me  in  my  opinion 
that  there  already  existed  a  number  of  submarine  craters 
from  which  gases  were  being  projected,  to  explode  when 
coming  in  contact  with  the  air. 

"  Having  retired  for  the  night  (May  7-8)  at  about  nine 
o'clock,  I  awoke  shortly  afterwards  in  the  midst  of  a  suffo- 
cating heat  and  completely  bathed  in  perspiration ;  knowing 
my  nerves  to  be  agitated,  I  concluded  that  it  was  only 
uneasiness  that  troubled  me,  and  again  retired.  I  awoke 
about  eleven-thirty-five,  having  felt  a  trembling  of  the 
earth,  but  no  other  person  in  my  house  being  about,  I 


44  THE   CATACLYSM   OF   MAY   8  . 

thought  that  my  nerves  had  possibly  deceived  me,  and 
again  went  to  sleep,  waking  at  half-past  seven.  My  first 
observation  was  of  the  crater,  which  I  found  sufficiently 
calm,  the  vapors  being  chased  swiftly  under  pressure  of  an 
east  wind.  At  about  eight  o'clock,  when  still  watching  the 
crater,  I  noted  a  small  cloud  pass  out,  followed  two  seconds 
afterwards  by  a  considerable  cloud,  whose  flight  to  the 
Pointe  du  Carbet  occupied  less  than  three  seconds,  being  at 
the  same  time  already  in  our  zenith — thus  showing  that  it 
developed  almost  as  rapidly  in  height  as  in  length.  The 
vapors  were  in  all  regards  identical  with  those  which  were 
being  ejected  nearly  all  the  time  from  the  crater.  They 
were  of  a  violet-gray  color,  and  seemingly  very  dense,  for, 
although  endowed  with  an  almost  inconceivably  powerful 
ascensive  force,  they  retained  to  the  zenith  their  rounded 
summits.  Innumerable  electric  scintillations  played  through 
the  chaos  of  vapors,  at  the  same  time  that  the  ears  were 
deafened  by  a  frightful  fracas. 

"  I  had  at  this  time  the  impression  that  Saint  Pierre 
had  been  destroyed,  and  I  wept  over  the  loss  of  those  whom 
I  had  left  the  night  before.  As  the  monster  seemed  to  near 
us,  my  people,  panic-stricken,  ran  to  a  neighboring  hill  that 
dominated  the  house,  begging  me  to  do  the  same.  At  this 
moment  a  terrible  aspirating  wind  arose,  tearing  the  leaves 
from  the  trees  and  breaking  the  small  branches,  at  the 
same  time  offering  strong  resistance  to  us  in  our  flight. 
Hardly  had  we  arrived  at  the  summit  of  the  hillock  when 
the  sun  was  suddenly  veiled,  and  in  its  place  came  an 
almost  complete  blackness.  Then  only  did  we  receive  a 


THE   CATACLYSM   OF  MAY   8  45 

fall  of  stones,  the  largest  of  which  were  about  two  centi- 
metres of  average  diameter.  At  this  time  we  observed  over 
Saint  Pierre,  and  in  the  quarter  which  I  could  determine 
to  be  the  Mouillage,  a  column  of  fire,  estimated  to  be  four 
hundred  metres  in  height,  which  seemed  to  be  animated 
with  a  movement  of  rotation  as  well  as  with  one  of  transla- 
tion. This  phenomenon  lasted  for  two  or  three  minutes, 
and  was  followed  by  a  shower  of  stones  and  of  mud-rain, 
which  pressed  the  lower  herbage  to  the  soil  and  even  some 
of  the  smaller  shrubs.  This  torrential  rain  lasted  for  about 
a  half  an  hour.  .  .  .  Relatively  to  a  rain  of  fire,  of  which 
much  has  been  spoken,  I  observed  nothing  of  such  nature, 
although  we  followed  the  phenomena  in  their  entirety." 

The  intensity  of  this  early  eruption  of  Mont  Pelee  will 
always  be  judged  by  the  extent  of  the  destruction  that  it 
wrought — the  wrecking  to  tumbled  ruins  of  an  entire  city 
of  twenty-five  thousand  inhabitants,  or  more ;  the  annihila- 
tion of  some  adjoining  suburbs ;  and  the  destruction  of 
eighteen  vessels  that  were  in  the  roadstead  at  that  time. 
One  of  these  was  the  English  cable-ship  Grappler,  and  an- 
other, the  passenger  and  freight-steamer  Roraima,  which 
had  passed  to  its  anchorage  less  than  two  hours  before. 
The  loss  of  life  can  only  be  stated  approximately,  and  the 
figure  given  may  fall  two  or  three  thousand  wide  of  the 
truth.  The  official  census  of  January,  1894,  gives  for  the 
city  of  Saint  Pierre  a  population  of  nineteen  thousand  seven 
hundred  and  twenty-two  ;  and  for  the  commune  twenty-five 
thousand  three  hundred  and  eighty-two.  The  later  parish 
registers  place  the  population  somewhat  over  twenty-seven 


46  THE   CATACLYSM   OF   MAY   8 

thousand.  With  one  or  two  exceptions  all  those  who  had  re- 
mained in  Saint  Pierre  perished,  but  it  is  known,  and  placed 
beyond  question  by  the  published  statements  contained  in  the 
Saint  Pierre  journals,  that  hundreds  had  left  the  city  prior 
to  the  catastrophe,  seeking  safer  quarters  elsewhere.7  This 
depletion  of  the  city's  population  seems  to  have  been  more 
than  made  good  by  numbers  of  refugees  who  had  fled  to 
Saint  Pierre  for  protection,  and  by  an  influx  of  people  from 
Fort-de-France  and  elsewhere,  who  had  come  to  attend 
special  cathedral  service  on  the  day  of  the  Ascension. 
Assuming,  then,  the  full  population  of  Saint  Pierre,  one  is 
perhaps  justified  in  accepting  the  belief  of  Vicar-General 
Parel,  expressed  in  a  letter  to  the  Bishop  of  the  diocese, 
that  the  full  number  of  the  dead  could  not  well  have  been 
less  than  thirty  thousand.  In  this  estimate,  which  some 
profess  to  believe  on  seemingly  not  very  good  grounds  to  be 
much  too  small,  would  be  included  the  killed  in  the  suburbs 
and  outskirts  of  Saint  Pierre,  and  those  on  board  the  dif- 
ferent craft  that  lay  about  in  the  roadstead.  The  annihilation 
of  so  large  a  number  of  lives  in  a  very  few  minutes — in  not 
more  than  three  to  five  minutes  for  much  the  larger  body 
— renders  impressively  appalling  the  nature  of  this  cata- 
clysm, and  suggests  problems  in  geological  dynamics  that 
have  yet  to  be  solved. 

The  area  of  actual  destruction  that  was  involved  in  the 
immediate  catastrophe  was  not  very  large,  most  of  it  being 
contained  in  the  sector  that  would  be  bounded  by  the  lines 
drawn  from  the  crater  of  the  volcano  to  the  anse  immedi- 
ately north  of  Carbet  and  Sainte-Philomene,  the  whole 


; 


UN: 

OF  ~ 

• 


THE   CATACLYSM   OF  MAY   8  47 

being  comprised  in  an  area  of  about  eight  square  miles. 
Within  this  zone  the  destruction  of  life  and  habitation 
was  practically  absolute.  Immediately  outside  of  it  the 
measure  of  life-destruction  remained  much  the  same,  but 
the  mechanical  force  of  the  tornadic  blast  had  been  largely 
spent,  and  it  permitted  habitations  of  nearly  all  kinds  to 
stand  without  disorganization.  As  a  rule,  the  line  of  de- 
marcation between  the  outer  zone  of  the  singed  vegetation, 
where  there  was  little  or  no  destruction  beyond  the  tempo- 
rary effacement  of  the  vegetation,  and  the  non-affected 
region  is  sharply  defined,  and  one  that  can  be  easily  fol- 
lowed, sweeping  over  highland  and  lowland  alike,  even  from 
a  distance. 

Where  the  course  of  the  tornadic  blast  was  thrown 
across  narrow  but  high-walled  valleys,  a  "  haven  of  refuge" 
was  sometimes  found  in  the  lee  of  the  nearer  or  hanging 
wall,  the  plane  of  destruction  passing  overhead  and  reach- 
ing the  opposite  side  without  descending.  This  condition 
is  seen  in  one  or  more  of  the  anses  (bays)  north  of  Carbet ; 
and  in  the  later  eruption  of  August  30  the  same  condition 
was  repeated,  the  destructive  blast  passing  over  Fonds 
St.  Denis  and  singeing  the  highland  forest  beyond.  The 
longest  line  of  destruction  on  May  8  was  from  the  crater 
to  the  north  point  of  Carbet,  almost  exactly  seven  and  one- 
half  miles ;  the  storm-blast  there  passed  into  the  sea,  and 
naturally  we  can  only  conjecture  as  to  what  would  have 
happened  had  the  land  projected  farther  to  the  westward. 
The  condition  of  the  ruins  in  the  southern  part  of  Saint 
Pierre  gives  no  indication  that  the  force  of  the  blast  had 


48  THE   CATACLYSM   OF   MAY   8 

nearly  spent  itself  at  that  point,  or  that  it  had  even  ma- 
terially weakened. 

A  comparison  of  the  energy  that  was  expended  in  the 
Pelee  cataclysm  with  that  of  other  eruptions  of  note  is 
hardly  permitted  by  reason  of  the  diversity  of  the  condi- 
tions which  this  comparison  touches.  The  statement  has, 
indeed,  been  made  that,  apart  from  its  destructive  and 
death-dealing  quality,  the  eruption  of  May  8  was  not  of 
great  power  or  magnitude.  This  is  judged  by  the  fact 
that  the  discharge  of  ashes  was  not,  or  did  not  seem  to  be, 
notably  large,  that  there  was  no  lava-flow — indicating  an 
absence  of  elevatory  power  in  the  lifting  or  expanding  force 
— and  that  there  were  no  earthquake  disturbances  of  any 
moment.  The  comparison  is,  however,  an  entirely  gross 
one,  since  it  is  made  between  conditions  that  are  in  no  way 
accordant  with  one  another.  The  explosive  force  that  so 
thoroughly  wrecked  a  compact  city  two  miles  in  length,  or 
nurtured  a  tornadic  current,  with  a -sweeping  velocity  of 
one  to  two  miles  a  minute,  to  accomplish  this  work,  must 
have  been  prodigious ;  and  while  we  do  not  as  yet  fully 
understand  the  nature  of  this  destroying  cyclone  of  wither- 
ing heat  and  gas,  and  the  precise  manner  in  which  it  was 
accomplished,  it  is  easy  to  believe  that  had  the  explosive 
force  been  directed  in  its  work  to  the  inner  walls  of  a 
closed  volcano  instead  of  to  its  outer  surface,  the  catas- 
trophic details  of  the  eruption  would  have  been  very  dif- 
ferent from  what  they  have  in  fact  proved  to  be.  It  is 
also  true  that  the  greatest  cataclysmic  eruptions  have  been 
unattended  with  lava-flows,  or  they  had  them  only  of 


THE   CATACLYSM   OF   MAY   8  49 

minor  degree.  Krakatao,  Bandai-San,  and  Coseguina  are 
instances  of  this  kind,  and  dispose  of  the  notion  that  the 
power  of  a  volcano  is  measured  by  the  elevatory  force  that 
it  possesses  to  raise  lava. 

It  has  been  impossible  so  far  to  estimate,  even  for  the 
purposes  of  an  argumentative  comparison,  the  quantity  of 


o.  Heilprm 

IRON    BRIDGE    ACROSS   THE    ROXELANE— SAINT    PIERRE 

ash  that  was  thrown  out  by  Pelee  in  its  great  eruption. 
The  island  of  Martinique  occupying  a  position  in  the  direct 
course  of  the  trade  (and  anti-trade)  winds,  with  no  large 
.land-mass  lying  even  remotely  (except  very  distantly)  on 
either  side,  it  may  be  inferred  that  most  of  the  ash  has  been 
lost  on  the  surface  of  the  open  sea,  carried  out  directly  to  a 

4 


50  THE   CATACLYSM   OF   MAY   8 

distance  of  perhaps  several  hundred  miles.  The  bark 
Beechwood,  travelling  from  Salaverry  to  New  York,  has 
noted  in  her  log-book  (under  date  of  May  8)  passing 
through  a  cloud  of  volcanic  ashes  in  latitude  13°  22' ; 
longitude  49°  50'  W. ;  about  six  hundred  and  sixty  miles 
eastward  of  Martinique.  This  would  seem  at  this  time  to 
be  the  farthest  distance  from  the  island  at  which  these 
volcanic  products  were  noted  in  any  quantity ;  but  the 
determination  is  not  entirely  free  from  doubt,  since  these 
same  ashes  may  in  part  be  a  residuary  product  from  the 
earlier  eruption  of  the  Soufriere  in  St.  Vincent.  The 
greater  portion  of  the  Soufriere  ashes  of  May  6  and  7, 
measured  by  the  quantity  that  fell  over  Barbados,  appears 
to  have  travelled  with  the  anti-trade  winds — or,  at  least, 
against  the  trade-wind — and  this  was  also  the  case  with  the 
dense  ash-cloud  of  Pelee  which  we  observed  on  May  25. 

It  is  unfortunate  that  little  or  no  notice  was  taken  in  the 
early  days  of  the  Martinique  eruption  of  the  "  after-glows," 
which  certainly  must  have  existed,  in  order  to  obtain  some 
measure  at  least  of  the  quantity  of  the  finer  ash  that  was 
thrown  into  the  higher  regions  of  the  atmosphere.  The 
projectile  force  of  the  May  eruption  is  represented  to  have 
been  very  great,  carrying  the  ash-cloud  several  miles  into 
the  air ;  and,  if  so,  the  high  distribution  of  the  finer  ash 
must  have  been  considerable.  I  am  informed  that  at  the 
island  of  Saint  Croix,  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  distant 
in  a  direct  line,  brilliant  glows  appeared  almost  immediately. 
On  my  second  return  voyage  from  Martinique  I  observed 
brilliant  glows  on  September  9  in  about  latitude  26°  30' 


THE   CATACLYSM   OF   MAY   8  51 

north ;  on  September  10,  in  latitude  30°,  and  on  September 
11,  in  latitude  33°  45',  longitude  71°  west.  The  last 
position  is  about  fourteen  hundred  miles  north-northwest  of 
Mont  Pelee.  The  evening  following  was  cloudy  and  no 
observation  could  be  taken.  There  is  no  question  that  these 
glows,  which  came  up  to  their  full  intensity  and  magnificent 
brilliancy  about  thirty  to  forty  minutes  after  sunset,  were 
the  culmination  of  the  Antillean  eruptions,  and  probably 
of  those  that  had  taken  place  only  a  few  days  before,  but 
whether  of  Pelee  (August  30)  alone,  or  of  Pelee  and  the 
Soufriere  (September  3-4)  combined,  cannot  positively  be 
told.  The  latter  condition  seems  more  likely,  as  the  great 
ash-cloud  of  the  Soufriere  on  this  occasion  took  a  northerly 
direction,  and  swept  completely  over  Martinique.  On  the 
afternoon  immediately  preceding  the  evening  eruption  of 
August  30,  I  estimated,  roughly  perhaps,  the  elevation  of 
the  Pelee  ash-cloud  to  have  been  between  six  and  seven 
miles,  which  is  still  considerably  less  than  that  of  Krakatao 
in  1883 ;  but  it  is  seemingly  fully  equal  to  the  height  of 
any  other  volcanic  cloud  that  has  been  carefully  observed. 
It  was  then  flowing  almost  directly  northward,  or  somewhat 
east  of  northward,  and  towards  the  region  where  the  after- 
glows were  subsequently  observed.  This  certainly  helps  to 
link  the  after-glows  with  this  eruption.  And  yet  it  would 
be  impossible  to  affirm  in  the  absence  of  earlier  observations 
that  the  glows  may  not  have  been  in  part  an  accompaniment 
of  the  first  eruption,  left  over,  and  slow  in  coming.  The 
Krakatao  after-glows  were  very  tardy  in  their  appearance 
in  some  places.8 


52  THE   CATACLYSM   OF   MAY   8 

Statements  vary,  and  will  continue  to  vary,  regarding 
some  of  the  phenomena  that  were  developed  coincidently  with 
the  shooting  out  from  the  volcano  of  its  destructive  blast. 
Pelee  was  almost  immediately  veiled  in  an  impenetrable 
mantle  of  ash,  and  the  entire  region  was  in  obscuration, 
which  probably  sufficiently  explains  the  discrepancies  that 
appear  in  the  statements  of  different  observers.  One  of  the 
most  interesting  of  the  observations  made  is  that  relating  to 
the  formation  of  a  counter  wind — one  coming  from  the 
direction  opposite  to  that  of  the  destroying  tornado — a 
phenomenon  which  had  already  been  noted  by  the  observers 
of  the  Tarawera  eruption,  in  New  Zealand,  in  1886.  M. 
Celestin,  in  his  account  of  the  Martinique  disaster  published 
in  the  Bulletin  of  the  Societe  Astronomique  de  France 
(August),  describes  this  suddenly-appearing  wind  from  the 
south  as  a  vent  impetueux,  une  veritable  bourrasque,  before 
which  the  trees  were  bowed  to  the  ground ;  and  M.  Roux, 
evidently  referring  to  the  same  wind,  says  that  it  tore  the 
leaves  from  the  branches  of  the  trees,  and  even  broke  the 
smaller  branches.  On  the  morning  of  June  6,  at  the  time 
of  the  eruption  of  the  great  ash-cloud  from  Pelee,  which 
was  travelling  with  intense  velocity  southward,  I  noted  the 
regular  clouds  of  the  atmosphere,  in  a  much  lower  stratum, 
flying  swiftly  towards  the  volcano.  They  seemed  to  be 
pulled  towards  its  active  point.  What  the  precise  significance 
of  these  counter  currents  may  be,  I  do  not  profess  to  know, 
but  they  may  be  bound  up  with  a  condition  of  atmospheric 
rarefaction  or  vacuum  formed  in  the  immediate  compass  of 
the  volcano. 


THE   CATACLYSM   OF   MAY   8  53 

Regarding  the  destroying  blast  itself,  of  which  a  fuller 
consideration  is  given  elsewhere,  it  can  only  be  said  in  this 
place  that  it  was  tornadic  in  the  violence  of  its  sweep,  of  an 
intensely  high  degree  of  temperature,  explosive  in  action, 
and  necessarily  gaseous  in  construction.  To  what  degree  it 
may  have  been  charged  with  the  earthy  products  of  erup- 
tion brought  to  a  condition  of  incandescence  cannot  now 
be  determined,  and  probably  never  will  be  determined 
with  certainty,  but  it  seems  positive,  from  the  statements  of 
Captain  Freeman,  of  the  Roddam,  and  Chief-Officer  Scott, 
of  the  less  fortunate  Roraima,  that  a  rain  of  burning  ashes 
was  an  immediate  accompaniment  of  the  explosion,  and 
was  perhaps  directly  responsible  for  the  burning  of  most  of 
the  shipping  in  the  roadstead.  We  are  told  that  the  Rod- 
dam  "  was  covered  from  stem  to  stern  with  tons  of  powdered 
lava,  which  retained  its  heat  for  hours  after  it  had  fallen. 
In  many  cases  it  was  practically  incandescent,  and  to  move 
about  the  deck  in  this  burning  mass  was  not  only  difficult, 
but  absolutely  perilous."  In  Captain  Freeman's  recital  it 
is  said  that  a  wall  of  fire  swept  over  the  town  and  bay, 
striking  the  Roddam  broadside,  and  with  such  force  as  to 
nearly  capsize  her.  A  probably  more  correct  interpretation 
of  this  phenomenon  would  be  that  the  swiftly-descending 
volcanic  cloud  was  surcharged  with  incandescent  particles 
(and  burning  flames  of  gas  ?)  and  thus  gave  the  appearance 
of  a  solid  wall  of  fire. 

Professor  Hill,  in  his  report  to  the  National  Geographic 
Society,9  has  already  well  stated  that  the  cataclysm  brought 
no  important  change  in  the  topography  or  contour  of  the 


54  THE   CATACLYSM   OF   MAY   8 

island,  even  in  the  quarter  in  which  the  volcano  is  im- 
planted. The  bays,  valleys,  gorges  and  ridges  remain  prac- 
tically the  same,  and  the  new  features,  minor  to  the  land- 
scape at  large,  are  those  which  have  been  added  through 
the  eruptive  processes  of  the  volcano — the  crateral  cone,  the 
deposits  of  ash,  cinders,  etc.  There  has  been  no  appre- 
ciable rise  in  the  general  island-surface,  and  no  subsidence 
either.  The  volcano,  except  for  the  loss  of  a  portion  of  its 
culminating  Morne,  stands  as  it  did  with  its  full  height. 
Some  of  the  ravines  and  gorges  of  Pelee  have  unquestion- 
ably been  deepened  and  widened,  but  no  important  new 
forms  of  this  structure  have  been  noted.  It  may  be  that 
along  some  parts  of  the  western  coast  of  the  island  there 
have  been  "  drops"  in  the  ocean  basin — one  such  has  been 
noted  at  the  mouth  of  the  Precheur  River — but  if  subsi- 
dences of  this  class  at  all,  they  are  wholly  of  localized 
extent  and  without  special  significance.  The  great  abyss 
that  had  been  reported  formed  westward  of  Martinique  on 
the  line  of  the  Puerto-Plata  cable  has  been  shown  by  the 
soundings  of  the  French  cable-steamer  Pouyer-Quertier  to 
be  non-existent.  The  severed  ends  of  the  cable  were  found 
in  depths  closely  corresponding  with  those  that  had  been 
previously  established  by  the  cable -steamer  Seine,  in  1896, 
for  the  approximate  positions  from  which  the  strands  were 
recovered.  Admiral  Gourdon,  Commandant  of  the  Naval 
Force  of  the  Atlantic,  has  favored  me  with  a  tracing  of  the 
operations  of  the  Pouyer-Quertier,  made  by  Captain  Thi- 
rion,  which  is  here  reproduced,  and  also  with  a  brief  letter 
addressed  to  him  by  the  latter  officer,  in  which  the  oppor- 


THE   CATACLYSM   OF   MAY   8 


55 


I) 


-II 


i 

•J  s 


i 

! 


p 


1 


/ 


I 


CABLE   CHART   OF  THE    "  POUYER-QUERTIER' 


56  THE   CATACLYSM   OF   MAY   8 

tunity  is  taken  to  deny  the  reported  finding  of  a  marked 
oscillation  in  the  ocean  bottom.  It  states :  "  Contrary  to 
the  false  reports  that  have  been  circulated  touching  the  enor- 
mous differences  of  depth  that  were  thought  to  have  been 
found  along  the  line  of  the  cable,  the  plan  which  I  trans- 
mit to  you  indicates  that  the  depths  have  but  little  varied." 
(Translation.) 

The  same  letter,  however,  contains  the  interesting  state- 
ment that  evidences  of  a  sub-oceanic  disturbance  or  boiling 
(eboulements)  are  not  wanting,  especially  indicated  in  a 
zone  of  one  thousand  to  one  thousand  and  fourteen  fathoms, 
and  it  is  thought  that  to  it  may  be  due  the  constant  and 
successive  breakages  of  the  cable.* 

The  remarkable  condition  in  which  one  of  the  cable- 
ends,  coiled  and  knotted  about  a  trunk  or  thick  branch  of  a 
tree,  was  brought  up  from  a  depth  of  six  hundred  fathoms, 
and  the  fact  that  a  buoy  anchored  in  three  hundred  fathoms 
was  lost,  seemingly  sucked  under,  almost  immediately  after 
it  had  been  placed,  go  far  to  sustain  this  supposition.  A 
disturbance  or  ebullition  along  the  sea-bottom  is,  indeed, 
something  that  one  could  readily  expect  as  a  concomitant 
of  the  Pelee  eruption,  and  it  ought  not  to  surprise  us  if  a 
condition  of  active  eruptions  were  at  any  time  discovered  to 

*  "Neanmoins,  dans  le  quadrilatere  qui  figure  sur  le  caique,  et 
qui  represente  la  zone  sillonnee  par  notre  grapin  pendant  plusieurs 
jours,  nous  sommes  fort  portes  a  croire  que  des  Eboulements  se  sont 
produits,  eboulements  qui  ont  d'abord  brisee  notre  cable,  puis  1'ont 
enseveli,  et  nous  mettent  aujourd'hui  dans  I'impossibilite  de  le  crocher, 
dans  une  zone  encore  mal  definie." 


THE   CATACLYSM   OF   MAY   8 


57 


exist  in  the  greater  shore  depth  about  the  island.  Oceanic 
disturbances  of  greater  or  less  magnitude  have  been  noted 
to  have  taken  place  about  seven  miles  westward  of  the  island 
of  St.  Lucia ;  and  sea-captains  claim  to  have  remarked  a 
material  change  in  the  course  of  the  currents  sweeping 


RECOVERED  CABLE  STRAND  ENVELOPING  BRANCH  OF  TREE 

along  the  west  and  north  coasts  of  Martinique.  Unfortu- 
nately, the  observations  which  record  these  assumed  dis- 
turbances still  lack  full  confirmation.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  sinking  of  a  portion  or  of  several  portions  of  the  sea- 
bottom  adjacent  to  the  northern  parts  of  the  island  of  St. 
Vincent,  incident  to  the  eruption  of  the  Soufriere,  seems  to 


58  THE   CATACLYSM   OF   MAY   8 

be  a  well-established  fact ;  but  even  here  the  full  extent  of 
the  subsidence  or  subsidences  remains  unknown. 

What  particular  relation  the  eruption  of  Pelee  bears  to  a 
condition  of  general  catastrophism  in  the  Caribbean  region 
is  discussed  in  a  later  chapter ;  here  it  can  only  be  said 
that  it  followed  as  a  culmination  to  events  which  had  been 
marked  by  such  important  passages  as  the  destruction,  by 
earthquake,  of  Chilpancingo,  in  southern  Mexico,  in  Janu- 
ary of  the  same  year  ;  the  destruction,  also  by  earthquake, 
of  Quezaltenango,  in  Guatemala,  on  April  18  ;  the  minor 
volcanic  eruptions  in  Nicaragua  and  Costa  Rica ;  and  the 
immediately  preceding  eruption  (May  6  and  7)  of  the  Sou- 
friere  of  St.  Vincent.  Some  seismologists  and  vulcanolo- 
gists  have  attempted  to  draw  a  parallel  or  correlation  be- 
tween the  events  of  the  western  Mediterranean  basin  and 
the  somewhat  similar  ones — to  which  Vesuvius,  the  sub- 
volcanic  ebullitions  along  the  coast  of  Spain,  and  the  nu- 
merous earthquakes  in  the  Balkan  Peninsula  have  given 
expression — occurring  in  the  east  or  true  Mediterranean, 
but  it  is  plain  to  see  that  the  broad  range  and  indiscrimi- 
nate distribution  of  manifestations  of  like  kind  that  can  be 
brought  into  such  a  "  time"  correlation — as,  for  example,  the 
strong  earthquakes  in  Finland  of  April  10-11 ;  the  strong 
earthquake  at  Lake  Baikal,  April  12  ;  the  eruptions  of  Re- 
doubt and  Illiamna,  Alaska,  in  April-May ;  and  the  earth- 
quake of  Shemaka,  Caucasus,  April  17 — destroy  any  value 
that  such  a  comparison  might  have,  unless,  indeed,  it  is 
made  for  the  purpose  of  demonstrating  that  earthquake  and 
volcanic  phenomena  the  world  over  are  on  the  ascendant, 


THE   CATACLYSM   OF   MAY   8  59 

and  that  we  have  reached  a  particular  moment  in  the 
earth's  history  when  the  outer  crust  is  being  specially  agi- 
tated. There  are  no  known  facts  in  geology  that  can  be 
adduced  in  opposition  to  a  demonstration  of  this  kind,  any 
more  than  there  are  facts  that  might  be  said  to  directly  sup- 
port it.  For  the  region  about  Pelee  itself,  however,  it  is 
evident  that  a  condition  has  developed  which  is  new  to  its 
modern  history,  and  one  that  opens  a  serious  consideration 
of  facts  in  the  geology  and  geography  of  a  large  section  of 
the  earth's  surface  which  have  hitherto  almost  escaped  at- 
tention. 


IY 
DAYS    OF   FEAR  AND   TREMBLING 

AT  precisely  two  minutes  after  eight  of  the  fatal  May  8, 
as  marked  by  the  time  of  the  capital  of  Martinique,  the 
single  word  "  allez"  was  sent  over  the  wire  from  Saint  Pierre 
to  Fort-de-France.  It  came  as  a  request  to  finish  a  message 
travelling  in  the  opposite  direction.  This  was  the  last  com- 
munication that  was  received  by  the  outside  world  from  the 
ill-fated  city  previous  to  its  destruction. 

When  that  final  word  left  Saint  Pierre,  it  would  appear 
that  there  was  no  particularly  disquieting  circumstance  to 
presage  impending  disaster.  The  good-natured,  operator  was 
at  his  post,  attending  in  the  usual  way  to  the  business  of  his 
office.  Yet,  for  days  before,  enough  had  taken  place  to 
make  the  less  strong  fear  and  tremble,  and  to  cause  many 
anxious  hours  to  those  who  could  not  be  comforted  by  scien- 
tific explanation  or  newspaper  analysis.  In  any  country 
but  Martinique  the  symptoms  of  uneasiness  to  which  Mont 
Pelee  gave  expression  would  have  impressively  counselled 
flight ;  but  in  this  island  of  tropical  dreams  and  sunshine 
the  warnings  went  for  practically  naught.  A  feeling  of 
strange  security  had  impressed  itself  upon  the  people,  for, 
as  appears  from  an  announcement  contained  in  Les  Colonies, 
the  more  important  daily  journal  of  Saint  Pierre,  a  large 
excursion  had  been  planned  as  late  as  the  1st  of  May  for 
the  summit  of  the  mountain,  to  take  place  on  the  fourth  of 

60 


DAYS   OF   FEAR  AND   TREMBLING  61 

that  month.  What  pathos  is  carried  in  the  words :  "If  the 
weather  be  fine,  the  excursionists  will  pass  a  day  that  will 
long  be  kept  in  pleasant  remembrance !"  Only  once  before 
in  the  lifetime  of  the  oldest  inhabitant  of  the  island  had  the 
volcano  exhibited  an  uneasy  temper,  but  it  was  recalled  that 
the  eruption  of  1851  had  been  without  destructive  character, 
and  with  hardly  enough  life  to  it  to  cause  discomfort  even 
to  those  approaching  within  close  range  of  its  fires.  It  was 
thought  reasonable,  except  by  one  or  two,  to  whom  volcanic 
manifestations  were  more  than  passing  shows,  that  this 
eruption  would  be  merely  the  echo  of  the  one  of  the  past, 
and  that  no  disastrous  consequences  need  be  feared.  So 
late  as  May  7,  Les  Colonies,  which,  for  political  reasons, 
appears  to  have  been  particularly  interested  in  holding  the 
inhabitants  to  their  city,  continued  to  scoff  at  those  who 
meditated  flight.  Earlier  numbers  of  the  same  journal 
describe  the  condition  of  panic  which  prevailed  throughout 
the  many  darkening  days  and  nights  of  the  city :  men, 
women  and  children  moving  and  wailing,  only  to  return  in 
most  cases  to  their  homes,  to  be  lured  again  to  a  feeling  of 
fancied  security.  A  wiser  few  had  left  for  good,  seeking 
refuge  in  the  quiet  atmosphere  of  Morne  Rouge,  whose  com- 
manding heights,  packed  closely  to  the  foot  of  Mont  Pelee 
itself,  surveyed  the  beautiful  roadstead  and  the  intercepting 
declivity  that  descends  to  the  water's  edge. 

Only  in  the  light  of  the  later  occurrences  can  one  picture 
the  dreary  forecast  of  what  was  then  impending,  the  unusual 
appearance  of  the  city  as  it  had  already  existed  for  many 
days,  and  the  higher  resolve  which  prompted  the  inhabitants 


62  DAYS   OF   FEAE  AND   TEEMBLING 

to  abide  by  the  counsel  of  a  few  who  undertook  the  work  of 
reassurance  for  the  many.  A  city  choked  with  sulphur,  its 
streets  blocked  with  falling  and  fallen  ash,  and  with  a 
burning  and  thundering  volcano  standing  at  its  threshold 
— this  is  the  picture  of  Saint  Pierre  during  the  latter  days 
of  April  and  early  May,  the  city  whose  gayety  had  been 
compared  to  that  of  Paris,  and  its  life  to  that  of  Rome.  In 
the  latter  days  of  April,  as  is  made  known  through  a  letter 
written  by  the  wife  of  the  American  Consul,  Mrs.  Prentiss, 
the  conditions  then  existing  must  have  been  all  but  unbear- 
able, for  as  she  writes :  "  The  smell  of  sulphur  is  so  strong 
that  horses  on  the  street  stop  and  snort,  and  some  of  them 
drop  in  their  harness  and  die  from  suffocation.  Many  of 
the  people  are  obliged  to  wear  wet  handkerchiefs  to  protect 
them  from  the  strong  fumes  of  sulphur."  The  odor  of 
sulphurous  gases  had  already  been  perceived  three  months 
before,  but  seemingly  not  until  April  23,  when  there  was  a 
slight  fall  of  cinders,  did  the  volcano  give  external  evidence 
of  an  active  existence.  On  that  day  a  number  of  distinct 
shocks  were  felt,  causing  the  houses  to  rock  and  dishes  to 
fall  from  their  shelves. 

The  student  of  a  later  day  can  plainly  see  that  from 
this  time  on  to  the  fatal  eighth,  the  succession  of  events 
was  rapidly  hurrying  to  a  climax.  The  activity  of  the 
volcano  was  no  longer  localized,  nor  was  it  confined  to  one 
form  of  demonstration.  On  April  25  smoke  was  noted 
issuing  from  the  summit  vent;  the  crater  had  opened,  and 
a  storm  of  rock  and  ashes  was  hurled  into  the  air  from  the 
ancient  pot  known  as  the  Soufriere  of  the  Etang  Sec.  A 


DAYS   OF   PEAK  AND   TREMBLING  63 

second  eruption  on  the  day  following  caused  considerable 
disquietude,  and  by  tbis  time  tbe  covering  of  ash  was  a  part 
of  the  landscape.  This  earliest  incident  of  any  importance 
that  is  connected  with  Mont  PeleVs  reawakening  presents 
itself  in  an  interesting  form  through  the  observations  made 
after  a  brief  interval  of  Messrs.  Boulin,  Waddy,  Decord, 
Bouteuil,  Ange  and  Berte,  which  are  recorded  in  the  issue 
of  Les  Colonies  under  date  of  May  7.  Ascending  the 
mountain  (April  27)  by  way  of  the  Petite  Savane  and 
Morne  Paillasse  on  a  little-travelled  and  much  overgrown 
path,  these  investigators  found  to  their  surprise  that  the 
normally  dry  bed  of  the  Etang  Sec  or  Soufriere,  which 
had  remained  all  but  peaceful  during  the  eruption  of  1851, 
and  whose  most  advanced  claim  to  activity  lay  in  the  emis- 
sion of  sulphurous  vapors,  was  now  in  a  condition  of  fer- 
ment. A  sheet  of  water,  estimated  to  measure  roughly  two 
hundred  metres  (six  hundred  and  fifty  feet)  in  diameter, 
occupied  the  centre  of  a  hollow  or  basin  (cuvette),  which  in 
itself  had  a  basal  diameter  of  three  hundred  metres. 
Along  one  side  of  this  picturesque  lakelet,  which  more 
than  once  before  had  come  into  being  to  mock  its  own 
name  of  Etang  Sec,  rose  a  diminutive  mountlet,  hardly 
more  than  thirty  feet  high,  whose  summit  threw  out  long 
trains  of  steaming  vapor.  The  travellers  observed  a  bril- 
liantly shimmering  surface  appear  at  times  beneath  the 
crowning  vapor,  while  an  almost  continuous  fall  of  water 
was  cascaded  into  the  surrounding  and  lower-lying  lake. 
This  small  volcanic  cone,  whose  crateral  diameter  was 
assumed  to  be  approximately  fifty  feet  (fifteen  metres),  had 


64  DAYS   OF   FEAE   AND   TKEMBLLNG 

not  be'en  noted  before,  nor  is  there  any  reference  to  it  con- 
tained in  the  much  earlier  descriptions  of  the  volcano.  It 
thus  becomes  particularly  interesting  as  helping  to  localize 
the  rift  whence  issued  the  destroying  force  of  the  fatal  May 
day,  and  one  of  the  points  of  main  weakness  in  the  volcano. 
When  it  was  first  observed  the  noise  of  boiling  matter  came 
loudly  from  within. 

The  days  of  assumed  security  continued  to  come  and  go, 
bringing  anxiety  to  many  minds,  and  a  still  sterner  resolve 
to  others  to  resist  to  the  end.  Light  falls  of  ashes  which 
to  some  must  have  called  up  visions  of  distant  Pompeii  and 
its  destroyer  Vesuvius,  began  to  fasten  a  wintry  look  upon 
the  streets,  while  distant  rumblings  followed  ominously 
close  upon  one  another.  Through  the  obscured  daylight 
the  eye  could  still  follow  the  course  of  the  unchanged  land- 
scape, but  the  ear  noted  the  fall  of  rushing  waters.  The 
idyllic  Roxelane,  so  dear  to  the  youth  who  knew  no  other 
water  but  its  own,  had  risen  to  a  wild  torrent,  and  on  the 
other  side  of  the  plain  of  the  northern  city  roared  the 
Riviere  des  Peres.  There  appeared  to  be  nothing  to  give 
to  these  streams  their  temper,  for  no  marked  eruption  is 
noted  at  this  time,  but  the  waters  came  impelled  with  a 
wild  fury,  and  spread  wreckage  along  their  course. 

The  quiet  of  May  1  was  followed  by  a  day  that  largely 
changed  the  aspect  of  the  country.  In  the  columns  of 
Les  Colonies  may  still  be  seen  the  announcement  of  the 
excursion  planned  for  the  summit  of  Mont  Pelee,  but  a 
white  coat  of  ashes  had  covered  the  streets  already  in  the 
early  hours  of  morning.  It  was  like  real  winter  this  time. 


DAYS   OF   FEAK  AND   TEEMBLING  65 

The  beautiful  Jardin  des  Plantes,  which  had  furnished 
such  rare  treasures  from  the  tropics  to  its  parent  in  Paris, 
lay  buried  with  its  palms,  its  ravenalas,  rubber-trees,  and 
mangos,  its  giant  cactuses  and  red  hibiscus,  beneath  a  cap 
of  gray  and  white — the  same  as  the  noble  avenue  of  tropical 
shade-trees  on  the  Place  Bertin.  The  heights  above  the 
city  were  white-gray,  and  Grande  Savane  had  several 
inches  of  ash  lying  over  it.  The  country  roads  were 
blocked  and  obliterated,  and  horses  would  neither  work  nor 
travel.  Birds  fell  in  their  noiseless  flight,  smothered  by 
the  ash  that  surrounded  them,  or  asphyxiated  by  poisonous 
vapors  or  gases  that  were  being  poured  into  the  atmosphere. 

The  following  days,  the  3d  and  4th  of  May,  could 
hardly  have  been  those  of  assurance  to  the  inhabitants,  for 
the  volcano  continued  to  tremble  and  to  roar,  and  to  throw 
its  heated  ashes  over  at  least  a  part  of  the  city. 

"  The  rain  of  ashes  never  ceases,"  remarks  Les  Colonies 
(May  3).  "  At  about  half-past  nine  the  sun  shone  forth 
timidly.  The  passing  of  carriages  is  no  longer  heard  in 
the  streets.  The  wheels  are  muffled.  The  ancient  trucks 
creak  languidly  on  their  worn  tires.  Puffs  of  wind  sweep 
the  ashes  from  the  roofs  and  awnings,  and  blow  them  into 
rooms  of  which  the  windows  have  imprudently  been  left 
open.  Shops  which  had  their  doors  half-closed  are  now 
barred  up  entirely.  The  following  business  houses  are 
closed  to  customers  :  the  maisons  Saint- Yves,  Deplanche, 
Doliret,  Keynoird,  Boissiere,  Celestin,  Constance  Esope, 
Boulange,  Guichard,  Dupuis  et  Cie.,  Vinac,  Andrieux, 
Villemaint,  Lejeune,  Delsuc,  Lalanne,  Medouze,  Lathifor- 


66  DAYS   OF   FEAE  AND   TKEMBLING 

diere,  Crocquet,  Bazar  du  Mobilier,  Bazar  Sans  Rival,  etc." 
The  same  issue  of  this  journal  announces  the  postponement 
of  the  excursion  to  Mount  Pelee  in  the  following  words  : 
"  U  excursion  qui  avait  ete  organisee  pour  demain  matin 
n'aura  pas  lieu,  le  crater e  etant  absolument  inaccessible. 
Les  personnes  qui  devaient  y  prendre  part  seront  avisees 
ulterieurement  dujour  ou  cette  excursion  pourra  etre  reprise" 

One  can  hardly  picture  at  this  time  a  scene  of  more 
hopelessly  impending  ruin ;  for  what  the  volcano  had  thus 
far  spared,  or  seemed  disposed  to  spare,  the  torrential  waters 
of  the  descending  streams  threatened  to  take  to  themselves. 
The  sea  is  described  as  having  been  "  covered  in  patches 
with  dead  birds.  Many  lie  asphyxiated  on  the  roads.  The 
cattle  suffer  greatly — asphyxiated  by  the  dust  of  jashes.  The 
children  of  the  planters  wander  aimlessly  about  the  court- 
yards with  their  little  donkeys,  like  little  human  wrecks. 
A  group  goes  along  hesitatingly  down  the  Rue  Victor 
Hugo.  They  are  no  longer  black,  but  white,  and  look  as 
if  hoar-frost  had  fallen  over  them.  .  .  .  Desolation,  aridity, 
and  eternal  silence  prevail  in  the  countryside.  Little  birds 
lie  asphyxiated  under  the  bushes,  and  in  the  meadows  the 
animals  are  restless, — bleating,  neighing  and  bellowing 
despairingly." 

The  Riviere  Blanche,  which  flows  off  the  southwest- 
ward  slope  of  Mont  Pelee  and  discharges  two  miles  north 
of  Saint  Pierre,  was  one  of  the  eaux  bouillants  or  turbulent 
waters,  sweeping  relentlessly  to  the  sea.  In  part  of  its 
valley  was  enacted,  on  May  5,  the  first  chapter  in  the 
tragedy  of  Mont  Pelee.  Near  the  mouth  of  this  stream,  in 


DAYS   OF   FEAR   AND   TREMBLING  (37 

a  tongue  of  flat-land  that  unites  its  bed  with  that  of  the 
Riviere  Seche,  was  located  one  of  the  largest  and  most 
profitable  sugar  establishments  of  the  island.  The  Usine 
Guerin  had  stood  as  a  type  for  what  it  represented  through 
long  years  of  toil  and  conquest,  and  its  tall  chimney  looked 
proudly  over  the  fields  of  cane  that  circled  about  it,  the 
grands  bois  of  the  mountain  slope,  and  the  blue  waters  of 
the  near-by  sea.  Few  of  the  great  chains  of  wheels  were 
longer  running,  for  the  Riviere  Blanche  had  given  warning, 
and  the  warning  was  for  once  heeded.  Had  the  language 
of  the  river  been  entirely  understood,  thirty  or  more  human 
lives  would  have  been  saved  from  the  destruction  that  so 
swiftly  overtook  the  establishment.  Hardly  had  the  mid- 
day hour  passed  on  that  eventful  5th,  when  the  gates  of  the 
volcano  were  drawn,  and  a  flood  of  boilipg  mud  was  sent 
hurling  down  the  mountain  side  to  be  flung  from  it  into  the 
sea.  In  three  minutes  it  had  covered  its  three  miles  to  the 
ocean,  and  within  that  time  had  left  nothing  visible  of  the 
Usine  Guerin  but  its  chimney — a  post  projecting  from  a 
desert  of  black  boiling  and  seething  mud.  In  this  way 
Pelee  began  its  work  of  death. 

It  was  needless  to  ask  whence  came  the  mud ;  it  could 
plainly  be  traced  to  the  position  of  the  Soufriere  or  Etang 
Sec.10  A  care-worn  observer  was  at  this  time  following  the 
occurrence  from  the  estate  of  Perrinelle.  For  days  he  had 
been  observing  the  volcano,  turning  a  watchful  eye  to  every 
new  phase  of  action  that  was  presented.  He  felt  within 
himself  how  insecure  was  the  ground  that  was  trod  in  the 
shadow  of  a  burning  volcano,  and  pointed  out  to  his  stu- 


68  DAYS   OF   FEAE   AND   TEEMBLING 

dents  at  the  Lycee  the  menacing  force  that  was  always 
present.  Professor  Landes,  alone,  of  the  Commission  that 
was  subsequently  appointed  by  the  Governor  of  Martinique 
to  inquire  into  the  condition  of  danger,  seems  to  have  fully 
realized  the  geological  relations  then  existing,  and  it  was  a 
fatal  moment  when,  contrary  to  his  better  judgment,  he 


OPPOSITE    THE    RIVIERE    SECHE 


united  in  the  counsel  which  advised  a  peaceful  abidance 
with  the  events  that  might  follow.  From  his  position  at  Per- 
rinelle,  Professor  Landes  observed  the  torrential  character 
of  the  Riviere  Blanche,  which  was  hurling  along  blocks  of 
rock,  estimated  in  some  instances  to  weigh  as  much  as  fifty 
tons  ( ! )  ;  and  at  the  same  time  he  noted  a  white  seething 


LENUMERO  10  CENTIMES. 


MERCREDI  7  MAI  190? 


ES  COLONIE 

OKGt.VK  HKPlWLirAI.V  DE-FA  MVUTfVIQUE 

ruixi^o  -  ' KiMEc KUiiM  im*ik*.ttileGr*r#*- 

nwBUftWRhK  M.  Hu^A«o.r,...o«Tit»  '     pOBucrrfi 

!:'.-,f)     IT?  H*rf«»«a:  J  frtaa  I.  lime. 


AUTOUR 

\      Nyiutfou.j,",Y"ne ric.i  coro'prti.dre  i  cell* 

UTASTROI'  II! 


FEIIYYXH  GLERC 
o.  i)i*«)n-:s\  \v 


LKS  VOI.iAVS 


ivlee.  Crtte 
M.  lelieqiT 

•il.  dircctrur  dt-  I'artillc- 
rville,  f>h  .rmacicn-major 


c-Pointo 

!-Poinle  deborde  d«- 
iuxnoiralrea.  On  pri- 
ii  as  pas  It  movea  de 


STERV1EW  OE  M.  L4NOES 


f^T^:,  :«„  ». 

»«  poa:    ' 

aolairr  v  eoovrtc 

S-    coeojit.  ! 
qar  !>nts»t:- 
cnte  i-- 
da  rayo. 
D'*tttre  part,  o  : 

heard*  U  itvr.e' 
DC  aoa  pal  parloo! 


VJUienlleieremrat 
I  plcine  dc  poiMoot 


p«r  la  qaanlil*  ii 

.  le  port  d'ua  para- 


mite  rojsK  fluid*  unit 

,t?m«rt<fini«nr  wqoi  n 

Ell*  Kraiik  .-,_,.:. 

force  ralcank|ue  aarait  Hi  brao.-oup   plat 

iatease  sex  rpoqun  fc-ilm  dr  1  hinioirede 

la  lerre  quelle  n,'  la  rtr  plus  : 

•rraatm    .:M   •'..-r.-rt-  'i 


i  geolog^an  les  pla<  rteale*.  undli  qa* 
b  terre,  etaient  '»ojetUt  a  dea  pluiea  d* 
aujoardhai  complelenMnl  libt'ei  de  tout* 

On  Toit  done  qa'il  y  *  depljcemeat  coali- 
nact.  d'ao  point  dc  I  rcure*  »  aa  auirr,  dri 
princip»ni  toy«»  d  qii  M  developpent  lea 
•volcani.  La  (la'idiit-  ontinelle  de  linlerieai 
U^  l>  lerre  et  li  eomolidalioa  nrj.ij^ii*  de 
•oo  eeoree,  eoostilaeot  unede  c<«  oorabre  DM* 


II  ae  p?ul    c.p»n.Hnt  qa'au  d«wj,  d-, 


lnniau^  il 
m«il*re  *n 


n^int  qai 
il  jr  ait  dea 


itti  mpor. 
favon.  ac  COoaaVnol 


., 

cetlairt  inamnta  .' 

11  parait  bitn  tubli  qoe  1'aa  loac  Ic  r6i« 
priaapa  Id  »ni  Ut  *Tapilo<ii.  0^  a  d'ab  >rd  aoj.- 

JK»*<tu,l<M.;..-.  ,V«    ,-.,r.,r,,le«r.le    lo- 


tcircur  VVUOT  c«Tiua  loaiarrAnUf  can* 

l««]i»«;,o»iccarajlcU  l>ya <H  Iprxjue I'eai, 


inelleetc, 
nema-.l,  , 

'     ' 


l.a  n. 


;s:.4; 


mf  l«  m  jrtf  deax  rn- 


. 

'hler,  la  booche  «n- 


SOUSCRIPTION 

DES  SINISTRfiS 


C*pend»at.  *•  -maUn,  ta  ino 
dWT.t.U,  U  more:  La  Croii  »>.i  .nt, 


l.. i  paalqu,- 


E.'emitfHiim   ,: 


>re»«spotuald«»  paqjtu, 
iif«4»U  el  K  diri«e»oi  rerj 
w.i.  le  Moroe-d'0»«ai».  !e 


.i 
a«r  BO  pea  d*  Uapidatioj  da  wJ. 


FAC-SIMILE    OF   THE    FIRST    PAGE    OF   THE    LAST    ISSUE   OF    LES   COLONIES    (MAY   7) 


DAYS   OF   FEAE   AND   TREMBLING  69 

mass  discharge  with  express-train  velocity  from  the  position 
of  the  Etang  Sec,  and  sweep  down  the  mountain  in  the 
plain  between  the  Rivieres  Blanche  and  Seche.  This  was 
the  avalanche  of  boiling  mud  and  water  that  fell  upon  the 
Usine  Guerin  and  annihilated  it  with  its  unfortunate  in- 
mates. There  can  hardly  be  a  question  that  the  explana- 
tion of  the  occurrence  as  given  by  Professor  Landes  is  the 
correct  one :  the  Etang  Sec,  filled  with  the  product  that  was 
discharged  into  it  by  the  newly-formed  vent,  broke  through 
one  of  its  sustaining  walls,  and  emptied  itself  of  its  boiling 
contents.  This  condition  makes  intelligible  the  enormous 
quantity  of  mud  that  was  precipitated  at  one  time,  the 
thickness  of  which  in  some  parts  of  its  flow  was  probably 
not  less  than  one  hundred  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet. 
The  coast-line  between  Sainte  Philomene  and  Fonds-Core 
was  materially  extended  by  its  discharge,  and  is  to-day  un- 
recognizable in  its  contours  to  those  who  knew  the  region 
best. 

To  the  greater  fear  that  was  brought  to  the  inhabitants 
by  the  volcano  was  now  added  that  of  a  "  tidal"  wave. 
For  a  short  time,  indeed,  it  looked  as  if  the  city  were  to  be 
swept  by  the  sea,  for  the  waters,  following  a  long  recession, 
rose  high  upon  the  beach,  and  penetrated  even  to  the  Place 
Bertin.  When  the  great  mud-flow  of  the  Riviere  Blanche, 
shortly  before  half-after-twelve,  local  time,  plunged  into  the 
sea,  the  latter  withdrew  three  hundred  feet  or  more,  per- 
haps driven  to  this  distance  by  the  impounding  force.  A 
yacht,  the  Precheur,  was  overturned  at  her  anchorage  five 
hundred  feet  from  the  shore.  The  transgression  of  the 


70  DAYS   OF   FEAK  AND   TEEMBLING 

ocean  was  fortunately  a  quiet  one,  and  it  left  the  prome- 
nade, the  landing-place,  and  the  central  Place  without  in- 
flicting serious  damage.  "  A  flood  of  humanity,"  remarks 
Les  Colonies,  "  poured  up  from  the  low  point  of  the  Mouil- 
lage.  It  was  a  flight  for  safety,  without  knowing  where  to 
turn.  Shop-girls  were  fleeing  with  bundles,  one  with  a 
corset,  another  with  a  pair  of  boots  that  did  not  match ; 
and  all  in  burlesque  attire  which  would  have  evoked 
laughter  had  the  panic  not  broken  out  at  so  tragic  a 
moment.  The  entire  city  is  afoot.  The  shops  and  private 
houses  are  closing.  Every  one  is  preparing  to  seek  refuge 
on  the  heights."  At  this  time  the  roaring  of  the  volcano 
continued  almost  without  intermission,  relieved  at  intervals 
by  concussional  shocks  that  told  that  something  was  doing. 
Saint  Pierre  had  been  left  in  night  darkness.  For 
many  days  the  disturbed  condition  of  the  atmosphere  had 
interfered  with  its  electric  illumination,  and  it  was  largely 
by  the  aid  of  brilliant  flashes  of  lightning,  which  came 
with  almost  blinding  effect,  that  the  terror-stricken  inhabi- 
tants were  enabled  to  grope  their  way  through  the  thicken- 
ing streets — to  inquire,  to  search,  and  to  find  not.  Many 
had  by  this  time  fled  to  the  hills,  and  others  had  left  the 
city  and  island  for  stabler  shores,  where  there  were  but 
faint  echoes  of  the  terrible  detonations  that  broke  from  the 
mountain.  On  the  day  following  the  destruction  of  the 
Usine  Guerin,  Pelee  was  shrouded  in  heavy  cloud,  and  its 
ashes  and  cinders  fell  over  a  wide  country,  extending  from 
Macouba,  on  the  north  coast,  to  Saint  Pierre  and  beyond. 
The  vegetation  of  forest-land,  savanna  and  plantation  was 


DAYS   OF   FEAE   AND   TEEMBLING  71 

burned,  and  the  cane  and  cocoa-nut  were  bowed  to  mother- 
earth  under  the  load  of  ash  and  mud  that  had  fallen.  The 
country  had  already  before  this  come  to  wear  a  strangely 
withered  aspect,  for  much  of  that  which  was  growing  had 
been  stripped  of  its  leaves  and  branches  and  otherwise  de- 
nuded. Some  of  the  surface  waters  had  disappeared, 
whether  sucked  up  by  the  volcano  or  not  cannot  be  ,told, 
and  pieces  of  land  been  deserted  by  cattle  and  other  animals 
whose  manner  betrayed  an  anxiety  of  mind  akin  to  that 
which  agitated  man.  During  these  many  days  the  atmos- 
phere had  remained  singularly  impassive,  the  barometer  at 
Saint  Pierre  indicating  at  the  noon  hour  a  pressure  of  seven 
hundred  and  sixty-one  or  seven  hundred  and  sixty-two 
millimetres,  the  fluctuation  at  this  hour  during  many  days 
confining  itself  to  hardly  more  than  one  millimetre. 

An  intelligent  analysis  of  the  situation  prevents  one 
from  understanding  how  with  the  conditions  prevailing  at 
this  time  at  Saint  Pierre,  with  a  roaring  and  erupting  vol- 
cano rising  from  its  very  foot,  a  placid  attitude  could  have 
been  maintained  that  still  counselled  remaining,  and  scoffed 
at  the  notion  of  a  departure.  Where  on  the  island,  the 
inhabitants  are  asked  editorially,  could  a  more  secure  place 
be  found  in  the  event  of  visitation  by  an  earthquake  ?  The 
earthquake,  for  which  the  poor  people  had  trembled  from 
day  to  day,  came  not.  In  its  place  came  that  which  was 
wholly  unexpected,  and  which,  in  fact,  could  not  have  been 
foreseen.  A  commission  appointed  to  investigate  the  con- 
dition of  the  volcano  reported  that  there  was  nothing  in  its 
activity  that  warranted  departure  from  the  city.  The  posi- 


72  DAYS   OF   FEAK   AND   TKEMBLING 

tion  of  the  craters  and  of  the  valleys  opening  on  the  sea 
was  such,  they  said,  that  the  safety  of  Saint  Pierre  was 
absolutely  assured  ("  la  position  relative  des  crater es  et  des 
vallees  debouchant  vers  la  mer  permet  d'affirmer  que  la  se- 
curite  de  Saint  Pierre  reste  entidre'). 

This  report  was  virtually,  and  perhaps  willingly,  en- 
dorsed by  the  unfortunate  Governor,  who,  lured  to  its  creed, 
embarked  on  that  tour  of  personal  examination  to  which  he 
and  his  wife  both  fell  victims.  A  far  keener  foresight  was 
that  of  the  captain  of  the  Italian  ship  Orsolina,  who  on 
that  7th  of  May,  contrary  to  the  protests  of  those  whom  he 
was  serving,  and  the  threats  of  the  customs  officers,  decided 
peremptorily  to  sail  out  with  his  half  cargo,  and  turn  his 
stern  to  Pelee.  He  knew  what  Vesuvius  was,  he  said,  but 
he  felt  that  Pelee  was  much  that  Vesuvius  was  not. 


THE   LAST   DAY   OF    SAINT   PIERRE 

WEDNESDAY,  May  7,  opened  one  of  the  saddest  and 
most  terrorizing  of  the  many  days  that  led  up  to  the  final 
catastrophe. 

Since  four  o'clock  in  the  morning  Pelee  had  been  hoarse 
with  its  roaring,  and  vivid  lightning  flashed  through  its 
shattered  clouds.  Thunder  rolled  over  its  head,  and  lurid 
lights  played  across  its  smoking  column.  Some  say  that  at 
this  time  it  showed  two  fiery  crater-mouths,  which  shone  out 
like  fire-filled  blast  furnaces.  The  volcano  seemed  prepared 
for  a  supreme  effort.  When  daylight  broke  in  through 
the  clouds  and  cast  its  softening  rays  over  the  roadstead, 
another  picture  of  horror  rose  to  the  eyes.  The  shimmer- 
ing waters  of  the  open  sea  were  loaded  with  wreckage  of  all 
kinds — islands  of  debris  from  field  and  forest  and  floating 
fields  of  pumice  and  jetsam.  As  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  it 
saw  but  a  field  of  desolation.  THis  was  the  early  awaken- 
ing of  the  day  before  the  end,  and  one  can  hardly  picture  a 
more  disheartening  opening  of  a  new  day.  For  days  the 
strenuous  editor  of  the  provincial  paper,  Les  Colonies,  had 
been  admonishing  his  readers  to  pay  little  heed  to  the  vol- 
cano, to  regard  its  work  more  in  the  light  of  a  nature-study 
than  of  something  to  be  feared.  One  reads  with  a  feeling 
of  gentle  pity  an  article  on  volcanoes  that  is  published  in 
the  last  issue  of  this  journal.  It  is  printed  on  the  first 

73 


74  THE   LAST   DAY   OF   SAINT   PIEKEE 

page,  and  in  the  first  column,  and  tells  of  the  general  phe- 
nomena of  vulcanisra.  With  a  blind  faith  in  the  righteous- 
ness of  things,  the  same  issue  (May  7)  publishes  an  inter- 
view with  Professor  Landes,  of  the  Lycee,  in  which  that 
unfortunate  scientist  is  made  to  appear  as  saying  that  there 
was  not  more  to  be  feared  at  Saint  Pierre  from  Mont  Pelee 
than  there  is  at  Naples  from  Vesuvius.  One  can  hardly 
credit  this  belief  to  a  man  of  the  scientific  standing  of 
Professor  Landes,  and  it  is  easily  possible  that  the  conclu- 
sion that  is  inferentially  drawn  from  the  interview  was  con- 
structed by  the  editor  of  the  journal,  and  on  perhaps  justi- 
fiable premises. 

The  following  is  the  full  text  of  the  interview  as  it  ap- 
pears in  the  journal : 

AN    INTERVIEW   WITH    M.    LANDES. 

M.  Landes,  the  distinguished  professor  of  the  Lycee,  has  been 
pleased  to  grant  us  an  interview  yesterday,  apropos  of  the  volcanic 
eruption  of  the  Montagne  Pelee  and  the  phenomena  which  preceded 
the  catastrophe  of  the  Usine  Guerin. 

The  following  is  the  result  of  our  conversation. 

On  the  morning  of  the  5th  (May),  M.  Landes  observed  torrents 
of  smoke  escaping  from  the  summit  portion  of  the  mountain,  from 
the  locality  known  as  the  Terre  Fendue.  He  observed  that  the  Riviere 
Blanche  was  periodically  swelling,  and  that  it  was  running  with  five 
times  the  volume  of  water  that  the  high  floods  normally  furnish.  It 
was  hurling  along  blocks  of  rock  some  of  which  must  have  weighed 
fifty  tons. 

M.  Landes  was  stationed  at  the  habitation  of  Perrinelle  and 
searched  at  twelve-fifty  for  the  Etang  Sec ;  he  noted  a  whitish  mass 
descend  the  slope  of  the  mountain  with  the  swiftness  of  an  express 
train,  and  enter  below  the  valley  of  the  river,  where  it  marked  its 


THE   LAST  DAY   OF  SAINT   PIERRE  75 

course  with  a  thick  cloud  of  white  smoke.  It  was  this  mass  of  mud, 
and  not  lava,  which  submerged  the  Usine. 

Later  on,  at  the  foot  of  the  Morne  Lenard,  it  appeared  to  M. 
Landes  that  there  was  a  new  branch  and  that  it  possibly  threw  out  lava. 

M.  Landes  holds  that  the  phenomenon  of  Monday  is  unique  in 
the  history  of  volcanoes.  It  is  true,  he  tells  us,  that  the  mud  lavas 
develop  with  very  great  rapidity,  but  this  catastrophe  was  determined 
rather  by  an  avalanche  than  by  a  flow  of  mud  lava.  The  valley  has 
received  the  contents  of  the  Etang  Sec,  whose  dyke  having  broken, 
permitted  of  the  fell  of  the  muddy  waters  from  an  altitude  of  seven 
hundred  metres.  If,  as  a  surprising  fact,  there  is  no  trembling  of  the 
surface  under  the  influence  of  this  enormous  fall,  it  is  simply  because 
the  sea  has  acted  as  a  buffer. 

It  follows  from  the  observations  of  M.  Landes  that  yesterday 
morning  (May  6)  the  central  mouth  of  the  volcano,  situated  over  the 
higher  (summit)  fissures  vomited  out  more  actively  (though  intermit- 
tently) than  ever  pulvurulent  yellow  and  black  matter.  It  would  be 
advisable  to  leave  the  neighboring  valleys  and  to  locate  rather  on  the 
elevations  in  order  to  escape  submergence  by  the  mud  lava,  as  was 
the  fate  of  Herculaneum  and  Pompeii.  Vesuvius,  adds  M.  Landes, 
has  made  but  few  victims.  Pompeii  was  vacated  in  time,  and  there 
have  been  but  few  bodies  found  in  the  engulfed  cities. 

Conclusion:  The  Montague  Pelee  presents  no  more  danger  to 
the  inhabitants  of  Saint  Pierre  than  does  Vesuvius  to  those  of  Naples. 

An  editorial  note,  which  is  less  confident  in  its  tone 
than  other  notes  that  had  previously  been  published,  sup- 
plements the  interview  with  the  following :  "  Nevertheless, 
this  morning,  the  mountain  being  uncovered,  the  Morne 
Lacroix  shows  in  its  lower  part,  on  the  side  of  the  Etang 
Plein,  a  gash  one  hundred  metres  in  length  and  forty 
metres  in  height,  making  possible  the  fall  of  this  promi- 
nence, and  with  it  the  production  of  an  earth  tremor." 


76  THE   LAST   DAY   OF   SAINT   PIEEEE 

The  other  events  that  are  chronicled  in  this  last  issue 
of  the  Sainfc  Pierre  paper  throw  a  vivid  light  upon  the  con- 
ditions prevailing  in  the  surroundings,  and  still  further 
darken  the  mystery  of  the  quiet  resolve  to  abide  by  the 
events  that  were  rapidly  hurrying  to  a  climax.  There 
were  floods  and  torrents  of  boulders,  villages  inundated 
and  annihilated,  and  the  ocean  rising  and  falling  in  un- 
known swells.  The  brighter  days  of  springtime  were  made 
black  with  the  falling  ash,  thunder  and  lightning  held  sway 
over  the  mountain  heights,  and  the  air  was  no  longer  fit  for 
man  to  breathe.  Yet  even  in  this  late  day,  with  the  city 
in  panic,  and  with  the  visions  of  destruction  made  real 
through  the  happenings  of  many  days,  the  editor  of  Les 
Colonies  asks  its  readers :  Why  this  fright,  and  why  pre- 
paring for  flight  ?  He  asks  this  question  at  the  end  of  a 
brief  editorial  paragraph  which  succinctly  portrays  the 
condition  of  panic  then  existing,  and  which  is  as  follows : 

THE    PANIC   AT    SAINT    PIERRE. 

The  exodus  from  Saint  Pierre  is  steadily  increasing.  From 
morning  to  evening  and  through  the  whole  night  one  sees  only  hurry- 
ing people,  carrying  packages,  trunks,  and  children,  and  directing 
their  course  to  Fonds-Saint-Denis,  Morne-d' Orange,  Carbet,  and  else- 
where. The  steamers  of  the  Compagnie  Girard  are  no  longer 
empty.  To  give  an  idea  of  this  mad  flight,  we  give  the  following 
figures.  The  number  of  passengers  which  on  the  line  of  Fort-de- 
France  was  ordinarily  eighty  a  day,  has  risen  since  three  days  to 
three  hundred. 

We  confess  that  we  cannot  understand  this  panic.  Where  could 
one  be  better  than  at  Saint  Pierre  ?  Do  those  who  invade  Fort-de- 
France  believe  that  they  will  be  better  off  there  than  here  should  the 


THE   LAST  DAY   OF   SAINT   PIERRE  77 

earth  begin  to  quake?     This  is  a  foolish   error  against  which  the 
populace  should  be  warned. 

We  hope  that  the  opinion  expressed  by  M.  Landes  in  the  inter- 
view which  we  published  will  reassure  the  most  timid. 

It  is  difficult  to  analyze  or  to  understand  the  motive 
that  prompted  the  publication  of  this  appeal.  Was  it  really 
given  out  as  the  expression  of  a  personal  conviction  in  the 
security  of  the  place?  Or  was  it,  perhaps,  a  pennant 
thrown  to  the  wind  to  assist  in  the  election  of  a  candidate 
to  the  French  Chamber  of  Deputies,  whose  battle  was  being 
actively  fought  by  the  editor  ?  The  editor  lies  dead,  and 
there  is  no  one  to  answer  for  him.  The  same  number  of 
the  journal  contains  the  names  of  the  members  composing 
the  commission  that  had  been  appointed  by  the  Governor 
to  report  upon  the  Mont  Pelee  eruption.  They  are  those 
of  Lieutenant-Colonel  Gerbault,  chief  of  artillery  and  presi- 
dent of  the  commission ;  M.  Mirville,  head  chemist  of  the 
colonial  troops;  M.  Leonce,  assistant  engineer  of  colonial 
roads  and  bridges ;  and  MM.  Doze  and  Landes,  professors 
of  natural  science  at  the  Lycee  of  Saint  Pierre.  It  is  an- 
nounced that  the  labors  of  the  commission  would  be  made 
known  to  the  public.  There  was,  alas !  enough  to  report, 
but  no  one  to  report  it. 

Of  the  condition  of  affairs  about  Saint  Pierre  at  this 
time  Les  Colonies  prints  the  following  paragraphs : 

THE    PRECHEUR   RIVER. 

The  Precheur  River  overflowed  its  banks  yesterday  and  the  day 
before,  and  has  carried  with  it  enormous  masses  of  rock.  A  very 
curious  phenomenon  was  noted  to  take  place  at  its  mouth.  Sound- 


78  THE   LAST   DAY   OF   SAINT   PIEEEE 

ings  made  at  this  point  yesterday  indicate  that  a  large  excavation 
(cavity)  has  been  formed.  The  water  which  had  hitherto  at  that 
point  a  depth  of  one  metre  has  now  eight  metres.  The  cause  of  this 
excavation  has  not  been  ascertained. 

THE    RIVIERE    DES    PERES. 

A  similar  condition,  the  result  of  a  terrible  overflow,  is  found  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Biviere  des  Peres.  Yesterday  evening,  at  about 
seven  o'clock,  the  flood  increased  and  was  flowing  with  dark  water, 
which  was  thought  to  be  a  simple  rise  brought  on  by  the  rains. 
Presently  there  came  a  torrent  which  swept  with  it  great  quantities 
of  bamboo,  and  later,  trees  and  giant  blocks  of  rocks,  which  are  still 
to  be  seen  in  the  bed  of  the  stream.  The  bridge  of  the  estate  of  Per- 
rinelle  has  disappeared,  buried,  as  it  were,  beneath  the  boulders  of 
rock.  If  the  walls  of  the  property  had  not  been  fortunately  strong 
enough  to  resist  the  pressure,  the  stables  would  have  been  carried 
away  by  the  torrent.  This  first  overflow  lasted  until  about  ten 
o'clock,  when  it  began  to  diminish,  only  to  commence  again  at  two 
o'clock  in  the  morning. 

It  is  to  be  reported  that  at  its  discharge  the  water  of  the  river  is 
engulfed  in  the  enormous  cavity  which  has  been  cut  at  this  point, 
and  that  it  carries  down  with  it  all  the  vegetable  and  mineral  debris 
which  it  has  swept  up  in  its  course.  A  little  beyond,  the  current  reap- 
pears at  the  surface  of  the  sea,  still  laden  with  this  debris. 

THE  OVERFLOW  OF  THE  ROXELANE. 

The  Roxelane  overflowed  in  its  turn  at  about  seven  o'clock  yester- 
day evening.  This  sudden  rise  was  due  to  the  heavy  fall  of  rain  on 
the  surrounding  heights.  The  river  holds  in  suspension  all  the  ash 
that  it  has  caught  up,  and  is  consequently  of  a  dark  color.  Great 
quantities  of  dead  fish  have  been  observed  at  its  mouth. 

AT    BASSE-POINTE. 

The  river  of  Basse-Pointe  has  overflowed  since  yesterday  and 
flows  with  black  water.  It  is  reported — but  we  have  no  means  of 


THE  LAST   DAY   OF   SAINT   PIERRE 


79 


confirming  the  report,  as  the  telegraph  wires  are  everywhere  broken 
— that  several  houses  have  been  carried  away  by  the  waters. 

AT    LORRAIN. 

The  Capot,  whose  waters  have  been  slightly  discolored,  is  now 
flowing  so  muddy  that  the  mouth  of  the  river  is  full  of  dead  fish. 


Photo.  Heilprin 


BASSE-POINTE— MAY    30,   1902 


About  one  hundred  and  fifty  kilos  of  dead  and  torpid  fish  have  been 
taken  from  the  irrigating  canal  of  Vive. 

MUDDY    RAINS. 

Yesterday,  throughout  most  of  the  day,  there  fell  in  the  north 
a  fine  blackish  rain,  which  was  so  charged  with  ash  as  to  make  the 
carrying  of  an  umbrella  a  matter  of  discomfort. 


80  THE  LAST   DAY   OF   SAINT   PIEEEE 

A    RESCUE. 

A  fisherman  named  Thomas  assisted  M.  Eenus  in  the  rescue 
which  we  reported  yesterday,  and  which  was  of  a  particularly  peril- 
ous nature.  The  boat  which  contained  MM.  Dupuis-Nouille  the 
younger  (fils*),  Louis  Claude,  Elysee  Fleurisson  and  three  other  pas- 
sengers, and  was  manned  by  M.  Stephane  Larade,  was  upset  and 
broken  by  the  muddy  torrent  and  the  numerous  tree-trunks  that 
were  swept  along  with  it. 

THE    DEAD. 

Contrary  to  reports  that  had  been  circulated,  the  body  of  Mile. 
Pauline  Fleurisson  has  not  yet  been  recovered.  We  have  to  report 
among  the  dead  two  children  of  M.  St.-Just  Prosper,  one  still  at  the 
breast  and  the  other  sick,  who  were  in  a  boat  near  to  that  of  M. 
Eenus. 

Following  these  news-notes  is  a  brief  list  giving  the  names 
of  subscribers  to  a  general  relief  fund,  and  the  amount 
of  subscriptions  that  had  up  till  then  been  made.  A  last 
balance  shows  eight  hundred  and  fifty-eight  francs,  fifty 
centimes,  to  which  107.75  francs  are  now  added,  making 
a  total  of  966.25  francs.  On  another  page  of  this  same 
number  of  Les  Colonies  is  a  belated  account  of  an  ascent 
of  Mont  Pelee  made  on  Sunday,  April  27,  by  MM.  Boulin, 
Waddy,  Decord,  Bouteuil,  Ange,  and  Eugene  Berte,  which 
shows  in  sufficiently  plain  language  the  critical  condition 
which  had  been  reached  by  the  volcano.  Although  this 
account  appears  at  so  late  a  date,  and  is  edited,  it  cannot  be 
assumed  that  it  had  intentionally  been  suppressed  by  the 
editor,  who  had  before  this  published  many  alarming  re- 
ports of  occurrences  that  were  taking  place.  It  may  be 
that  he  attached  little  importance  to  the  narrative,  and 


THE   LAST   DAY   OF   SAINT   PIEEEE  81 

perhaps  it  had  not  before  been  submitted  in  official  form. 
The  journal  makes  the  announcement  that  the  Day  of 
the  Ascension  being  on  the  morrow,  the  stenographic 
courses,  as  well  as  the  adult  course  which  was  planned  for 
the  following  Friday,  would  be  postponed  until  Thursday, 
May  15.  The  editor  then  adds  for  his  own  paper : 

"  Our  offices  being  closed  to-morrow,  the  next  issue  will 
appear  on  Friday." 

Saint  Pierre  knew  no  further  Friday,  and  even  of  the 
Thursday  it  had  but  a  few  short  hours.  It  knew  not  on 
this  day  the  fate  that  awaited  it  on  the  morrow,  and  it 
clung  to  the  hope  that  a  good  end  would  still  come.  The 
city  went  to  sleep  hoping  but  fearing,  fearing  and  not  know- 
ing ;  and  it  was  the  last  sleep,  except  that  of  eternal  death, 
which  the  city  had. 

The  8th  of  May  brought  little  welcome  to  Saint 
Pierre.  Pelee's  thunders  had  ceased  for  a  while,  but  the 
hope  that  this  gave  was  only  to  the  wakeful  few,  for  already 
at  four  o'clock,  two  hours  before  the  shadows  of  night  had 
lifted,  an  ominous  cloud  could  be  seen  flowing  out  to  sea, 
followed  in  its  train  by  streaks  of  fiery  cinders.  At  half- 
past  six  the  Roraima,  her  decks  turned  to  hoary  gray  by 
the  ash  that  had  fallen  over  them,  came  into  port,  taking 
her  place  with  the  eighteen  other  good  craft  that  at  this 
time  lay  in  the  roadstead.  She  anchored  to  her  last 
berth. 

The  sun  had  risen  in  its  course  perhaps  twenty  degrees 
above  the  horizon  when  the  roaring  of  the  dark-shadowed 
mountain  began  anew.  Hundreds  of  agonized  people  had 


82  THE   LAST  DAY   OF   SAINT   PIEERE 

gathered  to  their  devotions  in  the  cathedral  and  the  cathe- 
dral square,  this  being  the  Day  of  the  Ascension,  but  prob- 
ably there  were  not  many  among  them  who  did  not  feel 
that  the  tide  of  the  world  had  turned,  for  even  through  the 
atmosphere  of  the  sainted  bells  the  fiery  missiles  were  being 
hurled  to  warn  of  destruction.  The  fate  of  the  city  and  of 
its  inhabitants  had  already  been  sealed. 

The  big  hand  of  the  clock  of  the  Hopital  Militaire  had 
just  reached  the  minute  mark  of  seven-fifty  when  a  great 
brown  cloud  was  seen  to  issue  from  the  side  of  the  volcano, 
followed  almost  immediately  by  a  cloud  of  vapory  black- 
ness, which  separated  from  it,  and  took  a  course  downward 
to  the  sea.  Deafening  detonations  from  the  interior  pre- 
ceded this  appearance,  and  a  lofty  white  pennant  was  seen 
to  rise  from  the  summit  of  the  volcano.  With  wild  fury 
the  black  cloud  rolled  down  the  mountain  slope,  pressing 
closely  the  contours  of  the  valley  along  which  had  pre- 
viously swept  the  mud-flow  that  overwhelmed  the  Usine 
Guerin,  and  spreading  fan-like  to  the  sea.  In  two  minutes 
or  less  it  had  reached  the  doomed  citv.  a  flash  of  blinding 

t/    '  O 

intensity  parted  its  coils,  and  Saint  Pierre  was  ablaze.  The 
clock  of  the  Hopital  Militaire  was  halted  at  seven-fifty-two 
— a  historic  time-mark  among  the  ruins,  Ihg  recorder  of 
one  of  the  greatest  catastrophic  events  that  are  written  in 
the  history  of  the  world. 

Thus  had  Pelee  done  its  work.  The  mountain  that 
only  a  few  days  before  had  been  clothed  with  all  but  pri- 
meval forest  nearly  to  its  summit  crown,  was  largely  a 
desert  waste,  scarred  with  burned  timber,  gray  with  ash  and 


THE   LAST   PAY   OF   SAINT  PIEREE  83 

water,  and  bleeding  with  black  mud.  Its  waters,  charged 
to  many  times  their  natural  force  by  the  volcano's  steam- 
cloud,  had  graven  deep  channels  into  its  flanks,  and  were 
pouring  their  rock  debris  into  villages  and  across  habitations 
which  the  volcano  itself  had  spared.  Precheur  lay  beside 
an  avalanche  of  boulders,  vainly  searching  for  a  part  of 
the  beautiful  meadow  upon  which  formerly  grazed  its  goats 
and  cattle.  The  church  stands  with  its  half  torn  away,  but 
that  which  remains  is  more  than  is  left  to  most  of  the 
houses.  In  Basse  Pointe  boulders  of  eight  feet  and  more 
lie  about  the  rubbled  walls,  and  over  the  bridge  of  the 
Kiviere  Basse  Pointe  flows  the  turbulent  mountain  torrent 
that  before  this  had  meekly  followed  a  rivulet's  bed. 

In  and  about  Saint  Pierre  the  work  of  death  and  de- 
struction was  accomplished  in  a  few  minutes.  Thirty 
thousand  bodies  lay  among  the  ruins  to  tell  the  story  of 
that  terrible  day,  turned  to  brown  and  black  crusts — some 
showing  signs  of  a  momentary  struggle,  the  greater  number 
without  evidence  of  any  kind  to  indicate  that  they  had 
stirred  after  the  fiery  blast  had  once  struck  them.  In  the 
house  ways  and  in  the  streets,  it  was  the  same  reading  of 
the  almost  instantaneous  death.  The  burning  buildings, 
we  are  told  by  Captain  Freeman,  of  the  Roddam,  stood  out 
from  the  surrounding  darkness  like  black  shadows.  All 
this  time  the  mountain  was  roaring  and  shaking,  and  in  the 
intervals  between  these  terrifying  sounds  could  be  heard  the 
cries  of  despair  and  agony  from  the  thousands  who  were 
perishing.  A  few  living  forms,  lit  up  by  the  lurid  light  of 
the  conflagration,  were  distinguishable  running  distractedly 


84  THE   LAST   DAY   OF   SAINT   PIEEEE 

about  the  beach,  only  to  meet  death  awaiting  them  at  every 
turn.  Day  had  suddenly  turned  into  night,  but  this  night 
brought  with  it  no  calm. 

The  final  details  in  the  passing  of  Saint  Pierre  were  the 
torrential  rain  that  followed  closely  upon  the  destruction 
and  the  general  conflagration  which  continued  for  several 
days.  At  the  end  of  this  time  the  city  was  laid  to  smoul- 
dering ruins,  coated  with  ash-paste,  and  looking  as  if  built 
of  adobe  plaster.  What  had  before  been  the  vivid  coloring 
of  houses  of  the  tropics  was  now  an  ashen  gray — the  color 
of  earth,  cold,  bleak  and  burned.  Centuries  seemingly  had 
passed  between  yesterday  and  to-day. 


VI 
YICAR^GENERAL   PAREL'S    CHROOTCLE 

IT  was  my  pleasure,  when  at  Vive,  to  meet  M.  Parel, 
-Vicar-General  of  Martinique,  who  at  the  time  of  the  de- 
struction of  Saint  Pierre  was  officiating  in  the  place  of  the 
then  absent  Bishop  of  the  diocese.  The  day-by-day  record 
of  events  that  were  then  transpiring,  and  which  M.  Parel 
communicated  to  the  Bishop,  paints  with  deep  emotion  the 
incidents  of  the  appalling  cataclysm,  and  furnishes  some 
of  the  most  remarkable  chapters  written  in  the  history  of 
any  event.  M.  Parel  has  kindly  placed  at  my  service  a 
copy  of  his  note-book  entries,  and  given  permission  for  their 
translation  and  publication.  They  appear  here  in  full. 

"  FORT-DE-FRANCE,  May,  1902. 
"  MONSEIGNEUR  : 

"Such  a  catastrophe  as  this  is  utterly  unheard  of;  it 
has  no  parallel  in  history.  Yet  despite  the  general  con- 
sternation that  prevails,  I  shall  send  you  a  daily  summary 
of  events.  You  are  familiar  with  the  configuration  of  the 
mass  of  Mont  Pelee.  The  mountain  commands  the  entire 
northern  part  of  the  island,  enclosing  numerous  valleys  at 
its  base,  and  is  the  source  of  many  streams,  here  somewhat 
inaccurately  called  rivers,  which  course  in  all  directions 
from  Saint  Pierre  to  Grande  Anse.  You  are  aware  that 
Morne  Lacroix  (thirteen  hundred  and  fifty  metres  in  alti- 
tude) is  its  highest  peak,  plainly  visible  in  clear  weather 

85 


86  VICAE-GENEEAL   PAEEL'S   CHEONICLE 

from  Saint  Pierre,  and  that  at  its  base  lies  the  old  crater 
known  as  Etang  Sec — Dry  Pond — in  contradistinction  to 
another  lake  situated  on  the  opposite  slope,  the  waters  of 
which  are  always  high. 

"  Friday,  April  25. 

"On  Friday  morning,  April  25,  although  the  weather 
was  very  clear,  the  crest  of  the  mountain  was  capped  with 
dazzling  white  vapor.  As  at  six-thirty  in  the  morning  I 
boarded  the  ship  leaving  Saint  Pierre,  where  I  had  spent  the 
previous  day,  and  set  out  for  home,  I  had  an  opportunity 
to  admire  the  spectacle  that  presented  itself.  Despatches 
announcing  a  volcanic  eruption  had  preceded  my  arrival 
at  Fort-de-France.  The  occurrence  excited  everybody's 
wonder.  Excursionists  immediately  set  out  for  the  crater, 
which  for  so  many  centuries  had  slumbered  peacefully,  and 
had  but  once,  in  1851,  given  signs  of  existence  by  a  harm- 
less rain  of  ashes  which  fell  over  night  on  Saint  Pierre. 
The  Fathers  of  the  College  were  not  among  the  last  to  reach 
the  mountain.  From  the  summit  of  Morne  Lacroix,  they 
discovered  that  the  Etang  Sec,  which  inclines  its  basin- 
shaped  bowl  towards  Saint  Pierre,  was  filling  up  with  boiling 
water  and  emitting  a  sulphurous  smell. 

"  Friday,  May  2. 

"Eight  days  later  the  nature  of  the  eruption  had 
changed.  Instead  of  vapor  the  mountain  was  now  vomit- 
ing ashes.  At  six  o'clock  in  the  morning,  I  received 
the  following  despatch  from  the  Curate  of  Le  Precheur: 
1  Serious  volcanic  eruption ;  since  morning  we  have  been 
under  ashes ;  we  ask  for  prayers.' 


VICAR-GENERAL   PAREL'S   CHRONICLE  87 

"At  half-past  eleven  the  following  night,  the  city  of 
Saint  Pierre  awoke  to  the  noise  of  frightful  detonations,  and 
to  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  spectacles  of  nature, — a 
volcano  in  full  eruption  discharging  an  enormous  column  of 
black  smoke,  traversed  by  flashes  of  lightning,  and  accom- 
panied by  ominous  rumblings.  A  few  moments  later  a  rain 
of  ashes  poured  down  upon  the  city,  and  also,  though  in 
less  degree,  upon  Fort-de-France  and  the  remainder  of  the 
island. 

"MayS. 

"At  dawn  on  Saturday  morning,  the  whole  settlement 
found  ashes  lying  thick  about  it,  penetrating  even  into  the 
houses.  As  another  despatch,  more  alarming  than  that  of 
the  previous  day,  had  reached  me  from  Le  Precheur,  I  left 
at  eight  o'clock  for  Saint  Pierre.  I  found  the  city  covered 
with  ashes  as  if  with  gray  snow.  Thick  wreaths  of  black 
smoke  hurled  themselves  upward.  At  intervals  of  six  hours 
the  cannonading  of  the  mountain  redoubled  in  intensity.  In 
a  downpour  of  ashes,  which  spread  a  strong  odor  of  sulphur, 
I  visited  Sainte  Philomene,  Le  Precheur  and  Morne  Rouge, 
the  places  nearest  the  volcano.  The  villages  were  filled 
with  country  people  fleeing  from  the  hills  to  the  coast.  The 
churches  remained  crowded ;  the  curates  baptized,  listened 
to  confession,  and  attempted  to  sustain  the  courage  of  the 
terrified  people.  I  endeavored  to  reassure  the  inhabitants. 
In  the  afternoon  there  was  a  frightful  panic  in  the  midst  of 
the  ceremonies  at  the  Cathedral.  With  outstretched  arms 
the  people  besought  the  priests  for  absolution.  The  colleges, 
the  Lycee,  the  schools,  were  disbanded. 


88  VICAE-GENEEAL   PAEEL'S   CHEONICLE 

"  May  4. 

"On  this  day  the  wind  changed  and  the  rain  of  ashes 
moved  towards  the  north  and  poured  down  upon  Ajoupa- 
Bouillon,  on  Basse-Pointe,  on  Macouba  and  on  Grande 
Riviere.  Saint  Pierre  breathed  more  freely  for  a  moment. 

"  May  5. 

"  Since  morning  the  Riviere  Blanche,  so  called  from  the 
milky  iridescence  of  its  waters,  which  had  been  for  some 
days  rising  in  an  alarming  manner,  suddenly  became  a 
threatening,  muddy  torrent,  whose  turbulence  attracted  all. 
At  the  same  time,  a  column  of  vapor  rolled  down  from  the 
valley  in  the  flank  of  the  crater.  '  A  new  crater  is  forming/ 
was  the  cry.  No,  it  was  an  avalanche  of  black,  smoking 
mud  vomited  forth  by  the  crater ;  swelled  by  successive 
discharges  it  became  a  rolling  mountain,  as  yet  unseen  while 
it  tore  its  path  through  the  deep  gorge,  but  the  moment  it 
approached  the  delta  in  which  was  situated  the  Usine 
Guerin,  its  approach  was  betrayed  by  a  great  roar  and  by 
a  column  of  vapor.  Those  who  witnessed  the  spectacle 
shouted  impetuously,  '  run  for  your  life  P  It  was  too  late. 
In  one  brief  instant,  the  avalanche  had  engulfed  the  factory 
and  the  villas  of  the  proprietors  and  employes  alike.  Over 
a  radius  of  several  hundred  metres,  and  even  over  the 
neighboring  hills,  spread  incandescent  mud,  several  metres 
in  thickness.  M.  Guerin  fils,  his  wife,  M.  Duquesne,  the 
head  overseer,  and  twenty-five  employes  or  servants  were 
overwhelmed.  The  chimney  of  the  factory,  slightly  bent, 
bears  solitary  witness  to  the  disaster.  This  was  about  noon. 

"  At  the  same  instant,  along  the  whole  roadstead  of 


V 

V, 


VICAR-GENERAL   PAEEL'S   CHRONICLE  89 

Saint  Pierre,  the  sea  receded  as  though  affrighted.  It  left 
the  ship  Girard,  which  plies  between  Fort-de-France  and 
Saint  Pierre,  high  and  dry.  Then  suddenly  the  ocean, 
rising  mountain  high,  rushed  back,  breaking  over  the  Place 
Bertin,  and  even  over  some  of  the  principal  streets,  and 
spreading  alarm  far  and  wide  throughout  the  city.  The 
inhabitants  fled  for  refuge  to  the  heights.  Twenty  minutes 
later  calm  reigned  once  more. 

"When  the  news  reached  Fort-de-France,  the  Suchet 
was  instantly  put  into  service  by  the  Governor,  who  was 
anxious  to  visit  the  scene  of  disaster.  I  attempted  to 
secure  passage,  but  was  courteously  refused,  as  it  was  feared 
that  my  presence  might  only  increase  the  panic. 

"  Tuesday,  May  6. 

"  I  could  not  leave,  therefore,  before  the  departure  of 
the  regular  boat  at  eight  o'clock  on  the  following  day. 
Accompanied  by  the  Abbe  Le  Breton,  I  went  to  the  Riviere 
Blanche.  This  stream,  now  a  raging  torrent,  crashed  along, 
carrying  with  it  broken  rocks,  trunks  of  trees,  and  smoking 
mud.  With  its  trail  of  smoke,  it  resembled  a  locomotive 
plunging  headlong  into  the  sea.  I  observed  the  slopes  of 
the  volcano  covered  with  mud  and  rock  and  ploughed  into 
vertical  gashes  by  the  waters  which  poured  from  its  mouth. 
The  two  peaks  encircling  it  formed  a  valley  which  collected 
the  waters,  whence  they  dashed  forth  in  zigzags,  to  form  the 

seething  torrent  before  us. 

"  May  7. 

"  Since  four  o'clock  in  the  morning,  when  I  was  awak- 
ened in  my  room  at  the  Seminaire-College  by  loud  detona- 


90  VICAE-GENEEAL   PAEEL'S   CHEONICLE 

tions,  I  have  been  watching  the  most  extraordinary  pyro- 
technic display : — at  one  moment  a  fiery  crescent  gliding 
over  the  surface  of  the  crater,  at  the  next  long,  perpendicu- 
lar gashes  of  flame  piercing  the  column  of  smoke,  and  then 
a  fringe  of  fire,  encircling  the  dense  clouds  rolling  above 
the  furnace  of  the  crater.  Two  glowing  craters  from  which 
fire  issued,  as  if  from  blast  furnaces,  were  visible  during 
half  an  hour,  the  one  on  the  right  a  little  above  the  other. 

"  I  distinguished  clearly  four  kinds  of  noises ;  first,  the 
claps  of  thunder,  which  followed  the  lightning  at  intervals 
of  twenty  seconds ;  then  the  mighty  muffled  detonations  of 
the  volcano,  like  the  roaring  of  many  cannon  fired  simulta- 
neously ;  third,  the  continuous  rumbling  of  the  crater, 
which  the  inhabitants  designated  the  '  roaring  of  the  lion ;' 
and  then  last,  as  though  furnishing  the  bass  for  this 
gloomy  music,  the  deep  noise  of  the  swelling  waters,  of  all 
the  torrents  which  take  their  source  upon  the  mountain, 
generated  by  an  overflow  such  as  had  never  yet  been  seen. 
This  immense  rising  of  thirty  streams  at  once,  without  one 
drop  of  water  having  fallen  on  the  seacoast,  gives  some 
idea  of  the  cataracts  which  must  pour  down  upon  the  sum- 
mit from  the  storm-clouds  gathered  around  the  crater. 
When  day  lighted  up  the  roadstead  of  Saint  Pierre,  a  cry 
of  amazement  arose.  As  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  it  was 
covered  with  floating  islets,  spoils  of  the  mountain,  the 
forests  and  the  fields,  with  trunks  of  gigantic  trees,  pumice- 
stone,  wreckage  of  every  sort,  discharged  by  the  overflow- 
ing torrents. 

"  I  was  obliged  to  go  to  Sainte  Philomene  and  to  Le 


VICAR-GENERAL   PAREL'S   CHRONICLE  91 

Precheur  to  give  to  the  curates  of  those  two  places,  along 
with  my  encouragement,  the  aid  which  I  had  promised 
them  for  their  parishioners.  But  there  were  no  longer  any 
bridges  or  roads.  Accompanied  by  Father  Fuzier  and 
Father  Ackermann,  I  made  my  way  in  a  boat  through  the 
dangerous  wreckage,  which  rendered  our  passage  slow  and 
difficult.  The  point  of  the  Riviere  Blanche,  of  Lamarre, 
and  of  the  Precheur  disappeared  in  the  sea  through  suc- 
cessive erosions,  and  under  the  combined  shock  of  the 
waves  and  the  furious  torrents.  All  those  diluvial  waters, 
black  and  laden  with  mud,  in  tumbling  into  the  sea,  instead 
of  covering  it  as  in  stormy  days  with  a  muddy  coat,  barely 
tinged  it  with  a  light  yellow  streak,  and  then  seemed  to 
engulf  themselves  with  their  banks  as  if  they  were  molten 
lead.  Every  incident  of  that  sad  vigil  was  extraordinary. 
I  found  the  two  men  worn  out  with  fatigue,  pale  from 
want  of  sleep — always  in  their  church,  busy  in  preparing 
their  people  as  though  for  a  great  sacrifice,  but  full  of  ardor 
and  of  courage,  and,  under  the  very  jaws  of  the  volcano, 
faithful  to  their  trust.  Half  of  their  parishioners  had  fled 
to  Saint  Pierre,  where  the  barracks  and  the  schools  had 
been  put  at  their  service  by  the  Governor. 

"  As  for  myself,  believing  it  my  duty  to  return  home  for 
Ascension  Day,  I  resisted  all  persuasions  to  remain  and 
took  the  boat  from  Saint  Pierre  at  half  past  two,  promising 
to  return  the  following  evening,  or  at  the  latest  on  Friday 
morning.  The  boat  was  filled  with  people  fleeing  from 
Saint  Pierre.  I  stepped  out  of  the  row-boat  which  'carried 
me  over  from  Le  Precheur  just  in  time  to  embark.  Was 


92  VICAE-GENEEAL   PAEEL'S   CHRONICLE 

my  good  angel  guarding  me  ?     Or  would  it  not  have  been 
better  to  die  than  to  survive  ? 


"  Thursday,  May  8,  Ascension  Day. 

"  This  date  should  be  written  in  blood.  Towards  four 
o'clock  in  the  morning  a  violent  thunderstorm  burst  over 
Fort-de-France.  Towards  eight  o'clock  the  horizon  on  the 
north  and  in  the  direction  of  the  volcano  was  black  as  ink. 
The  clouds  raced  across  the  sky  towards  the  northwest.  The 
sky  grew  darker  and  darker.  Suddenly  I  heard  a  noise  as 
of  hail  falling  upon  the  roof  and  on  the  leaves  of  the  trees. 
A  great  murmur  arose  in  the  city. 

"  At  the  church,  where  eight  o'clock  mass  had  begun,  a 
frightful  panic  took  place.  The  priest  alone  remained.  At 
the  same  moment  through  the  night  which  shut  us  in  thun- 
der pealed,  pealed  continuously,  appallingly.  The  sea  re- 
ceded three  times  for  a  distance  of  several  hundred  metres. 
The  boat  which  was  leaving  for  Saint  Pierre  returned 
affrighted.  I  went  out  on  my  balcony  to  see  what  was  hap- 
pening, and  I  noticed  it  was  being  covered  by  a  hail  of 
stones  and  ashes  still  hot.  People  stood  petrified  at  their 
doors,  or  rushed  distractedly  through  the  streets.  All  this 
lasted  for  about  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  a  quarter  of  an  hour 
of  terror. 

"  But  what  was  taking  place  at  Saint  Pierre  ?  No  one 
dared  to  think.  .  .  .  Communication  by  telephone  had  been 
cut  off  abruptly  in  the  middle  of  a  word.  Some  asserted 
that  they  saw  above  the  mountains  which  separated  us  from 
Saint  Pierre  a  column  of  fire  rising  to  the  sky,  and  then 


VICAR-GENERAL   PAEEL'S   CHRONICLE  93 

spreading  in  all  directions.  The  most  terrible  anxiety  filled 
our  hearts.  At  eleven  o'clock  the  ship  Le  Harin  set  out 
to  reconnoitre,  and  was  witness  to  the  most  appalling  spec- 
tacle imaginable.  Saint  Pierre  was  a  vast  brazier  of  fire. 
The  news  which  burst  upon  the  city  at  about  one  o'clock 
sounded  like  the  funeral  knell  of  Martinique  and  evoked  an 
indescribable  cry  of  horror.  I  shall  not  attempt  to  depict 
such  scenes  ;  it  requires  the  pen  of  a  Dante,  or  the  elo- 
quence of  a  Jeremiah.  I  am  told  that  a  ship  is  about  to 
leave  to  collect  the  wounded.  I  am  fortunate  enough  to 
obtain  passage  in  it  with  one  of  my  vicars.  The  police  and 
the  gendarmes  cannot  restrain  the  crowd  which  struggles  to 
embark.  The  expedition  is  composed  of  the  Prosecutor  of 
the  republic,  of  an  officer,  and  of  a  platoon  of  marines.  It 
is  impossible  to  believe  in  the  reality  of  so  terrible  a  disas- 
ter. We  cling  to  every  theory  that  permits  us  to  hope.  At 
least,  we  think,  a  large  part  of  the  population  will  have  had 
time  to  flee.  When,  at  about  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon, 
we  round  the  last  promontory  which  separates  us  from  what 
was  once  the  magnificent  panorama  of  Saint  Pierre,  we 
suddenly  perceive  at  the  opposite  extremity  of  the  road- 
stead the  Riviere  Blanche,  with  its  crest  of  vapor,  rushing 
madly,  as  on  the  previous  day,  into  the  sea.  Then  a  little 
farther  out  blazes  a  great  American  packet,  which  arrived 
on  the  scene  just  in  time  to  be  overwhelmed  in  the  catastro- 
phe. Nearer  the  shore  two  other  ships  are  in  flames.  The 
coast  is  strewn  with  wreckage,  with  the  keels  of  the  over- 
turned boats,  all  that  remains  of  the  twenty  or  thirty  ships 
which  lay  at  anchor  here  the  day  before.  All  along  the 


94  VICAE-GENEEAL   PAEEL'S   CHEONICLE 

quays,  for  a  distance  of  two  hundred  metres,  piles  of  lum- 
ber are  burning.  Here  and  there  around  the  city,  upon  the 
heights  and  as  far  as  Fonds-Core,  fires  can  be  seen  through 
the  smoke. 

"  But  Saint  Pierre,  in  the  morning  throbbing  with  life, 
thronged  with  people,  is  no  more.  Its  ruins  stretch  before 
us,  wrapped  in  their  shroud  of  smoke  and  ashes,  gloomy 
and  silent,  a  city  of  the  dead.  Our  eyes  seek  out  the  in- 
habitants fleeing  distracted,  or  returning  to  look  for  the 
dead.  Nothing  to  be  seen.  No  living  soul  appears  in 
this  desert  of  desolation,  encompassed  by  appalling  silence. 
When  at  last  the  cloud  lifts,  the  mountain  appears  in  the 
background,  its  slopes,  formerly  so  green,  now  clad  in  a 
thick  mantle  of  snow,  resembling  an  Alpine  landscape  in 
winter.  Through  the  cloud  of  ashes  and  of  smoke  dif- 
fused in  the  atmosphere,  the  sun  breaks  wan  and  dim,  as 
it  is  never  seen  in  our  skies,  and  throws  over  the  whole 
picture  a  sinister  light,  suggestive  of  a  world  beyond  the 
grave. 

"With  what  profound  emotion  I  raise  my  hand  above 
these  thirty  thousand  souls  so  suddenly  mowed  down,  buried 
in  this  terrible  tomb  to  sleep  the  sleep  of  eternity. 

"  Beloved  and  unfortunate  victims !  Priests,  old  men 
and  women,  sisters  of  charity,  children,  young  girls,  fallen 
so  tragically,  we  weep  for  you,  we  the  unhappy  survivors 
of  this  desolation ;  while  you,  purified  by  the  particular 
virtue  and  the  exceptional  merits  of  this  horrible  sacrifice, 
have  risen  on  this  day  of  the  triumph  of  your  God  to 
triumph  with  Him  and  to  receive  from  His  own  hand 


VICAR-GENERAL   PAREL'S   CHRONICLE  95 

the  crown  of  glory.  It  is  in  this  hope  that  we  seek  the 
strength  to  survive  you. 

"  In  this  desolation  the  troop  of  soldiers  sent  to  the  res- 
cue could  do  nothing.  We  returned,  utterly  dispirited,  to 
Carbet.  New  sensations  and  indescribable  scenes  awaited  us 
there.  Here,  in  a  single  house,  are  heaped  up  fifteen  bodies. 
In  another  spot  are  dying  men,  horribly  burned.  Women 
and  young  girls,  their  flesh  tumefied  and  falling  into  shreds, 
die  as  they  reach  the  ship.  Fathers  mourn  their  children, 
wives  their  husbands.  Many  of  these  are  returning  from 
the  country,  ignorant,  as  yet,  of  the  horrible  truth.  We 
wished  to  hide  it  from  them,  but  they  divined  it.  The  cries 
which  ring  out  break  the  heart.  Many  lost  their  reason. 
For  four  hours  embarkation  on  a  dismantled  sea  goes  on 
continually.  The  Suchet  and  the  Pouyer-Quertier  come  to 
our  aid.  We  reached  Fort-de-France  at  ten  o'clock  in  the 
evening. 

"  It  is  time  to  explain  to  you  how  the  terrible  catastrophe 
occurred.  This,  however,  is  not  quite  so  easy  as  you  may 
imagine ;  firstly,  because  none  of  those  whom  the  scourge 
struck  escaped  to  tell  the  tale,  and  secondly,  because  those 
whom  the  scourge  spared  were  doubtless  too  much  over- 
come by  the  scene  which  they  had  witnessed  to  agree  en- 
tirely in  their  descriptions.  Here,  however,  is  all  that  I 
was  able  to  ascertain  as  fact : 

"  Since  early  morning  of  this  day,  the  8th  of  May,  the 
rumblings  of  the  volcano  grew  more  disquieting,  the  dis- 
charges of  ashes  blacker  and  denser.  The  anxiety  of  the 
people  about  the  mountain  and  in  the  city,  then  in  gala 


96  V1CAE-GENEEAL   PAEEL'S   CHEONICLE 

state,  increased  from  moment  to  moment.  Suddenly  at  ten 
minutes  of  eight,  as  the  hospital  clock — providentially  pre- 
served among  the  ruins,  as  if  to  mark  for  all  time  the  in- 
stant at  which  the  justice  of  God  was  meted  out — bears 
witness,  a  tremendous  detonation  resounded  throughout  the 
entire  colony  and  an  immense  mass  was  seen  bursting  forth 
from  the  crater  and  hurling  itself  upward  with  extraordi- 
nary velocity.  The  black  coils  of  the  appalling  column, 
rent  by  electric  discharges,  unrolled,  expanded  and  dissi- 
pated, and,  impelled  by  an  invisible  force,  moved  on  to 
discharge,  at  a  distance,  the  incandescent  matter  contained 
within  them.  But  suddenly,  from  the  midst  of  these  dense 
masses,  a  spout  of  fire  detaches  itself,  beats  down  upon 
Saint  Pierre  like  a  hurricane,  and  envelops  the  entire  city, 
its  roadstead  and  suburbs,  from  the  promontory  of  Carbet 
to  Morne  Folie,  near  Le  Precheur,  as  if  with  the  meshes  of 
a  horrible  net.  On  the  surface  about  the  city  it  describes  a 
regular  curve  of  from  two  to  three  kilometres.  It  is  impos- 
sible to  give  any  idea  of  the  atmospheric  disturbances  cre- 
ated by  this  hurricane  of  fire.  What  did  it  contain  ?  Matter 
in  fusion  ?  Gas  ?  Boiling  vapors  ?  All  of  these  at  once  ? 
God  knows !  '  Everything  went  down  before  it/  said  to 
me  one  who  witnessed  the  sight  from  a  favorable  po- 
sition, 'and  at  the  same  instant,  everything  took  fire/ 
Deep  night  fell  over  the  land,  but  it  was  immediately  illu- 
mined by  the  dread  fires  of  this  veritable  hell.  From  the 
grass  of  the  meadows,  from  the  crops  of  the  countryside,  to 
the  great  trees,  to  the  houses  and  buildings  of  the  city  and 
its  suburbs,  to  the  very  ships  anchored  in  the  roadstead, 


VICAR-GENERAL   PAREL'S   CHRONICLE  97 

over  earth  and  over  sea,  raged  one  vast  conflagration,  con- 
suming thirty  thousand  human  lives.  In  this  awful  tu- 
mult, how  terrible  must  have  been  the  moment  of  agony 
of  a  whole  people !  What  pen  can  ever  paint  the  lamenta- 
tions which  ascended  at  that  moment  from  the  heart  of  a 
dying  city  to  the  bosom  of  a  merciful  God ! 

"While  the  whirlwind  of  fire  shot  out  by  the  crater 
moved  towards  the  south  and  the  west,  increasing  its 
destructive  force  and  spreading  its  ravages,  another  phe- 
nomenon, worthy  of  notice,  stopped  it  in  its  course.  Two 
powerful  atmospheric  currents,  laden  with  rain,  held  in 
reserve  up  to  that  moment  by  some  unseen  but  providential 
hand,  suddenly  moved  from  the  southeast  and  from  the 
north,  and  precipitated  themselves  on  both  sides  of  the  flam- 
ing spot.  Circumscribing  it  with  a  clearly  defined  line,  they 
cooled  it  to  such  a  degree  that  we  could  see  people  about 
the  line  of  demarcation  struck  on  one  side  by  burning 
missiles,  while  on  the  other  side,  and  at  a  distance  of  only 
a  few  feet,  nothing  fell  but  the  rain  of  muddy  ashes  and 
heated  stones,  which  descended  in  all  directions. 

"  Whatever  natural  explanation  of  these  phenomena  we 
seek,  we  are  always  confronted  by  a  combination  of  truly 
mysterious  circumstances.  It  is  evident,  however,  that  a 
power  capable  of  regulating  the  forces  and  laws  of  nature 
presided  over  the  cataclysm,  and  that  after  having  for  a 
moment  liberated  the  unrestrained  force  of  evil,  at  the  next 
it  commanded  the  -homicidal  cloud  to  cease  its  destruction. 
'  So  far  shalt  thou  go,  and  no  farther/  it  said.  '  Here  shalt 
thou  break  the  tide  of  thy  anger.' 

7 


98 


VICAE-GENEEAL   PAEEL'S   CHEONICLE 


"  Friday.  May  9. 

"  I  have  just  sent  two  priests,  Father  Woetgli  and  Abbe 
Auber,  with  the  expedition  to  Saint  Pierre  to  pronounce 
absolution  and  sprinkle  holy  water  over  the  bodies  which 
are  already  being  buried  or  cremated.  While  I  was  thus 


THROWN  STATUE  OF   OUR  LADY  OF  THE  WATCH' 


engaged,  the  French  mail-coach  arrived,  containing  the 
Abbe  Duval,  the  Vicar-General  of  Guadeloupe,  and  Abbe 
Amieux,  Curate  of  the  Cathedral  of  Basse-Terre,  whom  Mon- 
seigneur  Canappe,  as  soon  as  the  disaster  became  known, 
kindly  sent  to  us,  laden  with  the  precious  burden  of  his 
condolence  and  sympathy  for  Martinique.  I  shall  attempt, 
Monseigneur,  to  draw  up  the  balance-sheet  of  the  disaster. 


VICAE-GEXEEAL   PAEEL'S   CHEONICLE  99 

"According  to  the  statistics  of  the  parishes  of  Saint 
Pierre,  entered  in  the  ordo  of  the  diocese,  the  city  had  a 
population  of  about  twenty-seven  thousand  souls.  Adding 
to  this  number  about  two  thousand  refugees  from  the  sur- 
rounding communes  who  sought  safety  here,  at  least  five 
hundred  sailors  from  the  ships .  anchored  in  the  roadstead, 
and  finally  the  thousand  victims  in  the  parishes  of  Carbet 
and  Le  Precheur,  we  obtain  a  total  of  more  than  thirty 
thousand  dead.  Taking  into  account  the  fact  that  a  large 
number  of  inhabitants,  especially  women,  had  for  two  or 
three  days  prior  to  the  disaster  been  leaving  Saint  Pierre, 
I  feel  that  my  estimate  of  the  dead  of  thirty  thousand  is 
as  nearly  accurate  as  possible. 

"  It  was  not  the  will  of  God,  Monseigneur,  that  the 
Bishop  of  the  diocese  should  be  the  principal  victim.  And 
who,  among  us,  does  not  thank  God  for  your  providential 
departure  ? 

"  What  need  is  there  to  name  among  the  victims  of 
this  horrible  sacrifice  the  chief  of  the  colony,  M.  Mouttet, 
his  worthy  companion,  Colonel  Gerbault,  or  the  twenty- 
four  priests  whose  names  you  already  know; — eleven  of 
the  secular  clergy,  thirteen  reverend  fathers  of  the  order 
of  Saint  Esprit  ?  What  need  is  there  to  mark  out  for  your 
pity  all  that  group  of  young  vicars,  of  young  but  distin- 
guished professors,  Le  Breton,  Bertot,  Anguetil ;  the  rev- 
erend fathers,  Le  Galbo,  Demaerel,  Fuzier,  Ackermann, 
and  that  sainted  company  of  seventy-one  religious  women, 
twenty-eight  sisters  of  Saint  Paul  de  Chartres,  thirty-one 
sisters  of  Saint  Joseph  de  Cluny,  ten  sisters  of  the  Deliver- 


100  VICAR-GENERAL   PAREL'S   CHRONICLE 

ance  ?  And  how  many  more !  Of  the  many  professors  of  the 
Lycee  but  five  remained ;  of  the  colonial  boarding-school, 
the  directress  alone  survived.  All  those  who  escaped  death 
happened,  of  course,  to  be  away  from  Saint  Pierre.  Digni- 
taries, magistrates,  merchants,  honorable  and  Christian 
families  all  had  fallen  before  the  destructive  scythe. 

"  I  said  before  that  the  colleges,  schools  and  pensionnats 
were  disbanded.  There  remained,  however,  the  two  orphan 
asylums,  the  workshop  and  the  asylum  of  Saint  Anne. 
Teachers  and  scholars  alike  were  engulfed. 

"  This  is  the  moral  balance-sheet,  one  which  can  never 
be  sufficiently  deplored. 

"  Saturday,  May  10. 

"  As  a  result  of  the  loss  of  the  chief  magistrate  of  the 
colony,  and  of  so  many  other  civil  and  military  officials, 
the  Government  is  in  a  state  of  disorganization.  The  head 
of  the  Board  of  Health  declares  that  there  is  not  the  least 
danger  in  waiting  until  Monday,  the  12th,  to  begin  the 
cremation  of  the  bodies  which  lie  buried  beneath  the  rub- 
bish. And  in  addition — who  can  believe  it  ? — preparations 
for  the  elections  on  the  morrow,  at  least  in  the  district  of 
Fort-de-France,  are  going  on ;  that  of  Saint  Pierre  no 
longer  exists 

"  M.  Lhuerre,  the  General  Secretary,  is  by  decree  tem- 
porarily filling  the  office  of  Governor.  The  gentlemen 
from  Guadeloupe  and  I,  thanks  to  the  kindness  of  the 
provisional  Governor,  secure  passage  on  the  Suchet,  which 
sails  for  Saint  Pierre  to  examine  the  vaults  of  the  bank. 


VICAE-GENEEAL   PAEEL'S   CHEONICLE  101 

The  commander  and  the  officers  of  the  Sachet  welcome  us 
very  politely. 

"  Off  the  coast  of  Saint  Pierre,  the  hull  of  the  Ameri- 
can ship  is  still  burning,  emitting  a  strong  smell  of  putre- 
fying flesh.  Armed  with  disinfectants,  we  disembark  at 
the  Place  Bertin,  a  short  time  since  so  full  of  life,  and 
walk  over  the  wreckage.  It  is  a  huge  mass  of  rubbish 
heaped  up  in  indescribable  confusion.  Here  and  there 
tumefying  bodies,  horribly  contorted,  show  signs  of  terrible 
agony  in  their  twisted  and  contracted  limbs.  Beneath  a 
tamarind-tree,  whose  branches  could  not  protect  him,  lies 
the  body  of  an  unfortunate  man  stretched  on  his  back,  his 
head  thrown  down,  his  hand  raised  to  heaven  in  supplica- 
tion, his  entrails  bared  to  view,  his  limbs  torn  and 
shrivelled.  That  gesture  of  supplication  alone  consoles 
us  for  the  heartrending  picture.  God  was  merciful  to  him. 
May  he  rest  in  peace !  At  my  suggestion,  a  photograph 
was  taken  of  the  body. 

"  We  find  difficulty  in  reaching  the  Cathedral,  as  it  is 
impossible  to  recognize  the  streets.  The  interiors  of  the 
houses,  some  of  whose  walls  still  stand,  are  blazing  and 
smoking  braziers.  The  heaps  of  stone,  iron,  lime,  ashes 
and  rubbish  of  all  sorts  burn  our  feet.  It  is  danger- 
ous to  touch  the  pieces  of  charred  wall,  which  crumble  at 
the  slightest  pressure.  One  of  the  square  towers  of  the 
Cathedral,  with  its  four  bells,  is  still  erect,  cracked  through- 
out and  quite  unapproachable.  The  tower  on  the  left  fell 
to  the  ground  with  its  great  bell.  The  statue  of  the  Virgin 
which  decorated  the  fagade  appeared  to  lie  intact  among 


102  VICAE-GENEEAL   PAEEL'S   CHEONICLE 

the  rubbish  in  front  of  the  Cathedral.  The  walls  of  the 
church,  with  the  exception  of  some  portions  of  the  apse, 
are  no  longer  in  existence.  We  forced  our  way  into  it 
through  the  Rue  du  College,  and  found  several  bodies  half 
hidden  under  the  ruins.  Here,  as  everywhere,  a  large  part 
of  the  victims  are  buried  under  the  heaps  of  rubbish. 

"  We  could  not  reach  the  altar,  whose  tomb  seems  intact, 
although  hidden  beneath  the  confused  mass  of  stones  and 
ashes.  I  regret  that  the  director  of  the  mission  could  not 
grant  me  the  two  men  I  asked  for  to  assist  me  in  making 
excavations.  But  who  would  think  that  men,  worse  than 
jackals,  coming  from  no  one  knows  where,  would  prey 
upon  the  unhappy  city  and  complete  by  pillage  the  work 
of  destruction  begun  by  fire. 

"  What  shall  I  tell  you  of  the  parsonage  ?  All  this 
block  of  buildings  is  practically  levelled,  and  beneath  its 
ruins  are  buried  our  dear  brethren,  on  whom  we  cannot 
even  bestow  the  honors  of  sepulture.  I  entered  the  Epis- 
copal building  by  the  wall  opening  on  the  savane.  I 
could  have  left  it  by  walking  out  over  the  houses  of  the 
Rue  Coraille.  Some  portions  of  the  walls  at  either  end  of 
your  Episcopal  Palace  remain,  Monseigneur ;  the  middle 
portion  is  razed  to  the  ground.  A  piece  of  the  wall  of  the 
chapel  is  still  intact,  also.  The  safe,  with  all  that  it  con- 
tained at  the  time  of  your  departure,  is  charred.  There 
your  three  servants  perished.  I  could  not  find  them.  The 
trees  of  the  plantation  are  torn,  bent  towards  the  south  and 
partly  burned.  On  my  return  to  the  Place  Bertin,  I  at- 
tempted to  distinguish  the  church  of  the  Fort,  but  in  vain. 


VICAE-GENEEAL   PAEEL'S   CHEONICLE  103 

The  Seminaire  College  is  completely  wiped  out.  I  am 
told  that  in  the  Centre  it  is  impossible  to  distinguish  the 
spot  where  the  church  stood.  Balance-sheet  of  our  losses : 
— Your  Episcopal  residence,  your  Cathedral,  all  the 
churches  of  the  city  of  Sainte  Philomene  and  of  Trois 
Fonts,  your  magnificent  Seminaire-College,  the  workshop, 
the  Orphan  Asylum,  the  parsonages,  all  the  coffers  of  the 
factory  and  the  Episcopate,  the  coffers  of  the  ecclesiastical 
pension  lists,  etc. 

"  After  having  secured  the  treasures  of  the  bank,  the 
Suchet  was  commissioned  to  aid  in  the  evacuation  of  Le 
Precheur.  In  a  heavy  rain  of  volcanic  ash,  two  hundred 
agitated  people  embarked.  Two  boats  filled  with  women 
and  children  capsized  at  the  foot  of  the  ship.  The  sailors 
of  the  Suchet,  with  heroic  bravery,  rescued  all. 

"May  11  and  following  days. 

"It  is  impossible,  Monseigneur,  to  describe  all  our 
anxiety  and  perplexity,  and  our  hardships.  I  shall  resume 
my  account  of  the  days  following  the  catastrophe  by 
relating  the  principal  facts. 

"  While  fire  was  devastating  Saint  Pierre,  Le  Precheur 
was  deluged  by  water.  At  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning 
the  Precheur  River  overflowed  the  parsonage,  the  town 
and  the  church,  which  are  now  buried  under  one  or  two 
metres  of  sand.  The  Abbe  Desprez  saved  the  Holy 
Sacraments,  but  could  not  perform  the  Ascension  Day 
ceremony.  All  of  the  parishioners  who  remained  were 
gathered  together  on  the  12th,  and  he  and  the  mayor  were 


104  YICAR-GENERAL   PAREL'S   CHRONICLE 

the  last  to   leave  the  place,  which  was   no   longer   habi- 
table. 

"Monday,  May  19. 

"  I  send  two  priests  daily,  with  a  party  of  men  engaged 
in  cremating  the  bodies,  to  say  a  blessing  over  these  poor 
remains,  but  for  the  past  three  days  the  mission  has  re- 
turned without  being  able  to  disembark.  The  violence  of 
the  volcano  appears  to  be  increasing  in  intensity,  and  the 
mountain  is  vomiting  out  masses  of  ashes  which  cover  the 
colony.  To-day  the  mission  was  able  to  land,  but  the 
rally  was  sounded  immediately.  A  severe  eruption  took 
place. 

"  Here  in  Fort-de-France,  twenty-five  kilometres  as  the 
bird  flies  from  the  crater,  we  are  living  in  the  midst  of 
ashes,  and,  I  may  add,  in  a  continual  state  of  excitement. 
Basse-Pointe,  after  several  reprisals,  was  finally  inundated 
by  the  waters  of  its  river.  Several  houses  were  carried 
away  and  there  was  one  victim. 

"  All  the  bridges  from  Basse-Pointe  to  Grand e-Riviere 
are  down.  These  places  are  completely  deserted.  There 
is  no  one  remaining  at  Grande-Riviere  or  Macouba.  The 
curates  of  both  these  towns  are  here.  The  curates  of 
Basse-Pointe  and  Ajoupa-Bouillon  spend  the  night  at 
Grande-Anse,  and  return  home  every  morning  to  hold 
mass.  There  they  remain  the  entire  day  to  aid  the  few 
who  have  not  yet  deserted  their  homes. 

"As  to  Father  Mary,  he  very  courageously  remains 
practically  alone  in  Morne  Rouge,  beneath  the  jaws  of  the 
monster  and  under  the  guidance  of  Notre  Dame  de  la 


VICAE-GENEEAL   PAEEL'S   CHEOXICLE  105 

Deliverande.  I  wrote  to  congratulate  him,  but  there  was 
no  longer  postal  connection.  Should  he  succumb,  he  will 
only  learn  in  heaven  that  we  admire  him.  Fort-de-France, 
as  well  as  the  whole  southern  portion  of  the  colony,  is  full 
of  refugees.  An  attempt  is  being  made  to  distribute  them 
equally  in  the  different  townships,  but  we  are  still  providing 
shelter  for  seven  thousand. 

"  Tuesday,  May  20. 

"  Another  date  for  Martinique !  As  on  the  preceding 
days,  I  appointed  two  priests  to  go  to  Saint  Pierre.  Will 
they  finally  be  fortunate  enough  to  recover  the  sacred 
vessels  of  the  different  churches  ?  Alas  !  behold  what  has 
happened.  At  quarter  past  five,  while  I  was  dressing,  I 
suddenly  heard  two  loud  detonations  of  the  volcano,  deeper 
and  more  prolonged,  I  believe,  than  any  which  have  yet 
been  noticed.  I  called  to  Abbe  Recourse,  who,  since  he 
gave  up  his  home  to  a  family  of  refugees,  has  had  a  room 
below  mine.  '  The  volcano  is  angry/  I  said ;  '  something 
is  about  to  happen.'  At  the  same  instant,  in  the  distance, 
above  the  peaks  of  Carbet,  in  the  direction  of  Mont  Pelee, 
I  saw,  darting  from  a  dark  spot  in  the  sky,  rolling  flashes 
of  fire  accompanied  by  the  muffled  and  continuous  rumble 
of  thunder. 

"  Then  above  the  black  spot  I  saw  the  first  coils  of  the 
terrible  column  rising  upward.  Again  I  called  M.  Re- 
course, '  Come  and  see,  come  quick  P  Then  together,  and 
not  without  fear,  we  watched  the  sight.  The  meteor  rose, 
mounting  higher  and  higher  into  the  sky,  unfolding  its 
spirals,  reaching  incredible  heights,  and  then  advanced 


106  VICAE-GENEEAL   PAEEL'S   CHEONICLE 

towards  us,  spreading  out  on  all  sides,  shrouding  the  loftier 
points,  unrolling  and  unrolling  until  it  stood  directly  above 
our  heads.  We  felt  that  the  last  moment  of  Martinique 
had  arrived.  What  would  come  next?  Were  we  to  die 
beneath  the  flames  as  had  Saint  Pierre,  or  to  perish  beneath 
ashes  as  had  Pompeii  ?  We  were  prepared.  We  con- 
tinued to  watch  the  vast  cloud  and  its  dense  whirls,  which 
the  rising  sun  bathed  with  red.  I  was  on  my  knees  before 
the  window,  awaiting  the  will  of  God.  Suddenly,  just  as 
in  a  theatre  the  curtain  is  drawn  across  the  stage,  a  vapor 
cloud  spread  below  the  aerial  cloud,  and  shut  it  out  from 
us  entirely.  But  the  city,  the  city  which  was  scarce  awake, 
where  was  it  ?  First  a  deafening  tumult  and  a  distracted 
rush  for  safety.  No  one  remains  !  I  am  mistaken.  The 
church  was  regarded  by  many  as  a  place  of  refuge.  The 
crowd  surged  to  the  very  altars,  and  in  what  costumes  !  It 
is  only  with  the  greatest  difficulty  that  the  two  vicars, 
selected  to  go  with  the  mission  to  Saint  Pierre,  can  continue 

k, 

mass.  The  third  vicar  ordered  the  five  or  six  thousand 
people  assembled  to  pray  with  arms  crossed  on  their  breasts. 
The  sight  is  indescribably  touching.  These  are  in  very 
truth  scenes  that  accompany  the  destruction  of  the  world. 
A  quarter  of  an  hour  at  least  has  passed,  passed  in  agony. 
Then  follows  the  hail  of  lava  and  ashes.  As  the  first 
stones  fall,  I  look  about  for  flames  ;  but  I  am  soon  reassured. 
We  were  frightened,  that  was  all ;  besides  that  we  could 
make  a  fine  collection  of  volcanic  stones,  some  of  them  the 
size  of  an  egg.  Nearer  the  volcano  even  much  larger  ones 
were  found. 


VICAE-GEXEEAL   PAEEL'S   CHEOXICLE  107 

"  But  though  we  were  safe,  what  was  the  fate  of  the 
neighboring  parishes  ?  The  Bucket  set  out  instantly  to  re- 
connoitre. 

"  Its  report  was  as  follows  : — '  The  phenomenon  which 
resulted  in  the  destruction  of  Saint  Pierre  had  been  re- 
enacted  and  in  the  identical  localities.  Whatever  walls 
still  remained  standing  in  the  doomed  city  were  again 
swept  by  a  whirlwind  of  fire.  Not  a  stone  remained  on  top 
of  another.  Some  houses  within  the  circle  marked  out  by 
the  first  scourge  were  struck  and  raked  by  the  flames. 
There  were  no  new  victims.  A  tidal  wave  ravaged  the 
Grande  Anse  of  Carbet  and  carried  away  some  houses. 
The  people  who  had  remained  at  Fonds-Saint-Denis,  Car- 
bet,  and  Morne  Vert  fled  towards  the  south.  The  curates 
have  just  arrived.  I  learn,  too,  that  the  brave  Father 
Mary  has  at  last  left  Morne  Rouge.  He  was  the  last  to 
depart,  leading  the  band  of  gallant  followers  who  remained 
faithful  to  him.  A  severer  overflow  would  have  destroyed 
Basse-Poiute,  which  was  already  abandoned.  The  exodus 
is  of  the  entire  north  of  the  island  towards  the  south.' 

"Wednesday,  May  21. 

"  The  consequences  of  this  new  disaster  are  incalculable. 
Since  yesterday,  all  the  families  who  were  beginning  to 
regain  their  confidence  are  plunged  into  the  deepest  des- 
pondency. They  are  embarking  by  thousands  for  St. 
Lucia,  for  Guadeloupe,  Trinidad,  France  and  for  America ! 

"  It  is  no  longer  the  exodus  of  the  north  to  the  south, 
but  of  all  Martinique  to  foreign  lands.  Such,  Monseigneur, 


108  VICAR-GENERAL   PAEEL'S   CHRONICLE 

is  the  life  which  we  lead.  Whatever  the  reasons  for  which 
Providence  has  willed  that  I  should  witness  these  events, 
I  can  but  follow  the  example  of  Father  Mary  and  of  his 
fellow  priests  of  the  northern  parishes.  I  shall  be  the  last 
to  leave  Martinique. 

"G.  PAREL." 


SAINT    PIERRE    BURNING 


vn 

AFTER   THE    CONFLAGRATION 

ACTING-GOVERNOR  LHUERRE'S  official  report  of  the 
catastrophe  of  the  8th  of  May  is  as  follows  (translated 

extract) : 

"  FORT-DE-FRANCE,  May  11,  1902. 

"  The  night  of  the  7th-8th  passed  without  incident ;  the 
official  cablegrams  which  arrived  from  Saint  Pierre  between 
six  and  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning  reported  the  situation 
to  be  unchanged.  It  was  at  this  time  that  the  frightful  cat- 
aclysm which  overwhelmed  the  city  and  people  of  Saint 
Pierre  took  place. 

"  At  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning,  just  as  the  Girard- 
line  steamer  was  about  to  leave  the  city  for  Saint  Pierre,  an 
immense  mass  of  white  clouds,  rolling  in  gigantic  spirals, 
was  perceived  from  Fort-de-France  in  the  direction  of  Mont 
Pelee;  at  the  same  instant  the  cable  and  telephone  lines 
connecting  Saint  Pierre  with  the  capital  were  broken,  the 
barometer  registered  an  abrupt  fall,  and  a  '  tidal'  wave  was 
felt  along  the  coast. 

"  In  a  few  minutes  clouds  obscured  the  entire  sky ;  a 
rain  of  stones,  some  of  them  weighing  twenty  grammes,  beat 
down  upon  Fort- de-France,  followed  by  a  rain  of  ashes 
which  lasted  until  near  eleven  o'clock.  The  steamer 
Gfirard,  which  had  left  the  city  for  Saint  Pierre  a  quarter 
past  eight,  after  the  '  tidal '  wave,  continued  on  its  course  as 

109 


110  AFTEK  THE   CONFLAGRATION 

far  as  the  heights  of  Case-Pilote,  which  is  exactly  half  way. 
There,  stopped  by  the  stones  and  ashes  which  fell  in  con- 
siderable quantity,  it  turned  back  to  return  to  Fort-de- 
France. 

"  It  set  out  anew  towards  ten  o'clock  (after  the  great  ex- 
citement which  had  been  aroused  at  Fort-de-France  had 
calmed),  but  after  passing  the  point  of  Carbet,  a  terrifying 
sight  burst  upon  the  passengers.  At  the  base  of  the  Vol- 
cano, which  was  shrouded  in  a  cloud  of  smoke  and  ashes, 
the  entire  coast  for  a  distance  of  about  five  kilometres,  from 
the  '  Minoterie'  Blaisemont,  situated  a  little  north  of  Car- 
bet,  to  Pointe-Lamarre,  beyond  the  town  of  Sainte-Philo- 
mene,  was  in  flames ;  the  trees  as  well  as  the  isolated  houses 
of  the  country  were  devoured  by  fire  ;  a  dozen  vessels  in 
the  roadstead  of  Saint  Pierre,  of  which  two  were  American 
steamers,  burned  at  anchor.  The  coast  seemed  deserted  ;  on 
the  ocean  nothing  floated  but  wreckage.  The  heat  stream- 
ing from  this  immense  conflagration  prevented  the  boat 
from  proceeding,  and  it  returned  to  Fort-de-France  at  one 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  bringing  with  it  the  sinister  tidings. 

"  As  I  had  had  no  communication  with  Saint  Pierre 
since  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  in  view  of  the 
serious  events  which  had  happened  so  far,  I  ordered  the 
commander  of  the  Suchet  to  go  there  and  place  himself  at 
the  service  of  the  Governor,  M.  Mouttet.  The  Suchet  arrived 
at  about  half-past  twelve.  Towards  three  o'clock  its  com- 
mander, Le  Bris,  was  able  to  land  at  the  Place  Bertin, 
which  was  covered  with  bodies.  The  heat  which  was  disen- 
gaged by  the  smoking  ruins  prevented  his  prosecuting  his 


Expl.  Heilpri 


Underwood  &  Underwood,  Stereos.  Photo.,  N« 


THE   SILENT  CITY 
From  the  Morne  d'Orange 


AFTEK  THE   CONFLAGRATION  111 

investigations  farther.  He  picked  up  along  the  coast  the 
wounded  who  had  miraculously  escaped,  and  proceeded  to 
Carbet,  where  he  also  took  on  board  the  injured,  who  were 
removed  to  Fort-de-France.  At  three  o'clock  I  sent  a  boat 
to  Saint  Pierre  on  which  was  the  Procureur  of  the  re- 
public, M.  Lubin,  who  was  commissioned  to  report  the  situ- 
ation to  me. 

"  M.  Lubin  landed  at  Saint  Pierre  and  assured  himself, 
as  had  also  done  the  commander  of  the  Suchet,  that  the 
entire  population  of  the  city  had  been  wiped  out.  He 
finally  reached  Carbet,  where  the  population  of  the  neigh- 
boring villages,  and  many  of  the  wounded  who  had  escaped 
the  disaster,  had  gathered.  A  line  of  transport  steamers 
was  organized  between  Carbet  and  Fort-de-France  to  carry 
the  unfortunate  victims  speedily  to  the  capital. 

"  As  to  the  exact  circumstances  which  accompanied  the 
catastrophe,  it  would  be  difficult  to  give  them  with  pre- 
cision. It  seems  from  the  evidence  gathered  as  well  from 
the  few  survivors  as  from  the  people  who  watched  the  cata- 
clysm from  a  distance,  that  towards  eight  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  following,  doubtless,  a  fissure  in  the  flanks  of  the 
volcano,  a  spout  of  fire  burst  over  Saint  Pierre,  causing  the 
instant  death  of  the  entire  population  and  setting  fire  simul- 
taneously to  all  the  houses  of  the  city  and  all  the  ships  in 
the  roadstead.  The  opinion  of  all  who  have  up  to  this  time 
visited  these  scenes  is  that  not  one  of  the  inhabitants  who 
at  the  hour  of  the  catastrophe  were  in  Saint  Pierre  has 
escaped  death. 

"  The  number  of  victims  in  Saint  Pierre  alone  is  esti- 


112  AFTEK  THE   CONFLAGKATION 

mated  at  twenty-six  thousand.  But  to  this  figure  must  be 
added  the  inhabitants  of  the  suburbs  who  succumbed,  so 
that  the  entire  number  may  without  exaggeration  be  reck- 
oned at  thirty  thousand." 

To  the  prompt  action  of  the  officials  of  Fort-de-France, 
in  sending  vessels  of  inquiry  and  service  to  the  scene  of  the 
catastrophe,  is  due  the  saving  of  a  few  lives  from  the  ocean 
wreckage  and  from  points  immediately  adjacent  to  the  gen- 
eral destruction.  The  number  thus  brought  out  seems  not 
positively  to  be  known,  but  in  most  part  it  was  composed  of 
the  crews,  officers  and  others  who  happened  to  be  at  the  time 
on  board  the  different  vessels  anchored  in  the  roadstead, 
and  who  immediately  were  thrown  into  or  sought  refuge  in 
the  water.  Of  the  handful  of  immediate  survivors  from 
Saint  Pierre  itself,  who  dragged  themselves  or  were  carried 
out  to  points  of  safety  on  the  landside,  it  would  seem  that 
nearly  all  ultimately  succumbed,  and  history  generally  re- 
cites but  a  single  survivor  of  the  conflagration — the  prisoner 
Ciparis.  The  official  report  of  the  Procureur  of  Martinique 
dealing  with  the  efforts  made  to  render  assistance  to  the 
afflicted,  and  addressed  to  the  Procureur  General  under  date 
of  May  10,  gives  a  vivid  picture  of  the  early  conditions  of 
the  burning  city,  and  of  the  obstacles  that  interposed  to  the 
work  that  was  contemplated  : 

"  I  left  by  the  steamer  Rubis  at  half-past  two  in  the 
afternoon,  with  a  company  of  thirty  men  of  the  troop  com- 
manded by  Lieutenant  Tessier.  .  .  .  Among  others  Abbe 


AFTEE  THE   CONFLAGBATIOS  113 

Parel,  accompanied  by  one  of  his  vicars,  took  passage  on 
board  the  ship. 

"  After  we  had  passed  Case-Pilote  we  observed  that  the 
sea  was  strewn  with  wreckage,  and  the  Rubis  was  obliged  to 
slacken  its  speed  in  order  to  avoid  breaking  the  helm.  We 
also  noted  some  groups  of  people. 

"  We  approach  Car  bet ;  to  our  great  astonishment  there 
are  comparatively  few  people  on  the  shore.  Saint  Pierre  is 
enveloped  in  a  cloud  of  smoke  and  flames,  especially  in  the 
northern  portion,  known  as  the  Fort. 

"  Saint  Pierre  and  its  suburbs  seem  to  us  a  heap  of  ashes 
and  ruins.  The  roadstead  contains  nothing  but  an  immense 
quantity  of  drifting  wood.  Two  iron-clad  steamers,  com- 
pletely dismantled,  tilted  towards  the  land,  with  their  boats 
partly  lifted  from  their  pegs,  have  become  the  prey  of  the 
flames.  Not  a  trace  of  the  hull  of  any  sailing-vessel ;  not 
a  boat ;  we  see  only  three  or  four  coasting  vessels  of  Basse- 
Pointe,  pirogues,  their  keels  out  of  water,  capsized ;  on  the 
coast  and  in  the  surrounding  country  not  a  living  soul ! 

"  A  dozen  people  took  refuge  on  the  rocks  between  Saint 
Pierre  and  Carbet ;  the  launches  of  the  Suchet  went  to  their 
relief.  We  knew  at  once  that  these  people  belonged  to  the 
crews  of  the  lost  boats. 

"  I  asked  the  captain  to  approach  as  near  as  possible  to 
Saint  Pierre,  and  then,  having  a  boat  lowered,  the  lieu- 
tenant, the  ensign  (ship-ensign  Hebert,  of  the  /Suchet),  and 
I  steered  for  the  city  itself.  We  landed  a  little  beyond  the 
Place  Mouillage ;  the  desolation  there  is  complete  and  we 
had  to  force  our  way  to  the  Rue  Bouille. 

8 


114  AFTEK  THE   CONFLAGKATION 

"  In  this  neighborhood  we  found  bodies  scattered  every- 
where, some  of  them  distended  by  gases,  and  not  carbonized ; 
as  to  those  who  regained  their  homes,  they  seemed  to  us  to 
be  completely  charred.  It  is  impossible  to  penetrate  into 
the  interior  and  to  reach  the  main  street  of  the  city,  the 
Rue  Victor  Hugo.  In  fact,  to  do  so  would  be  to  walk  over 
a  glowing  brazier. 

"  We  reembarked  and  landed  at  the  Place  Bertin. 
There,  too,  are  bodies  swollen  by  gas,  but  not  carbonized. 
The  hands  are  not  shrivelled ;  death  seems  to  have  been 
swift  and  free  from  suffering.  At  this  place  are  a  dozen 
bodies,  one  of  them,  that  of  a  woman,  with  a  beam  lying 
across  her  limbs. 

"  The  quays  exist  no  longer ;  the  trunks  of  the  trees  are 
no  more.  The  lighthouse  of  the  Place  Bertin,  about  twenty 
metres  in  height,  is  razed  to  within  three  metres  of  the 
ground.  The  interior  staircase  of  iron  which  affords  egress 
appears  to  have  been  broken.  The  stones  which  remain  are 
uncharred,  and  the  iron  of  the  staircase  has  not  been  affected 
by  the  fire.  The  grating  of  the  fountain  is  twisted ;  a  dis- 
torted spout  still  gives  out  water. 

"We  attempted  to  make  our  way  through  the  Rue 
Lucie,  but  the  heat  was  so  suffocating  that  we  were  obliged 
to  abandon  the  effort.  Regaining  our  ship,  we  set  out  to 
pick  up  the  refugees  of  Carbet. 

"  From  our  examination  of  the  ruined  city  I  conclude 
that  the  phenomenon  which  destroyed  it  was  produced  with 
such  suddenness  and  intensity  that  there  was  no  chance  of 
escape ;  the  ships  in  the  roadstead,  which  were  under  high 


AFTEE  THE   CONFLAGRATION  115 

pressure,  notably  the  two  cargo-boats  and  the  Girard-line 
steamer  Diamant,  which  had  just  arrived  at  Fort-de-France, 
could  not  evade  it,  and  foundered  or  burned.  The  absence 
of  any  massing  of  bodies  in  the  Rue  Bouille  and  the  Place 
Bertin,  a  street  and  square  surrounded  by  extremely 
populous  houses,  and  the  appearance  of  the  bodies  in 
an  uncarbonized  condition,  obviously  prove  that  no  panic 
preceded  the  destruction ;  if  it  had  been  otherwise,  the 
entire  people  would  have  hurried  to  the  streets.  Every- 
one died  on  the  spot  where  he  was  overtaken  by  the  cata- 
clysm. 

"The  appearance  of  our  boats  off  Carbet  attracted  to 
the  shore  about  four  hundred  people,  among  them  a  score 
of  wounded.  I  found  on  inquiry  that  not  a  single  one  of 
the  people  came  from  Saint  Pierre ;  all  were  from  Carbet. 
The  town  was  not  set  on  fire,  but  seemed  to  have  been  de- 
vastated by  water.  The  people  all  along  the  shore  implored 
to  be  taken  along. 

"  M.  Mauconduit  gave  me  the  following  account  of  the 
phenomena  as  he  had  seen  it.  He  was  at  home  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Carbet,  overlooking  Saint  Pierre,  when 
towards  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning  his  attention  was 
attracted  by  an  immense  sheaf  of  flames  starting  out  of  the 
volcano.  He  saw  no  cause  for  uneasiness,  but  suddenly 
noticed  a  spout  of  smoke  advance,  pour  down  upon  Saint 
Pierre,  and  completely  cover  the  city.  A  very  violent  south 
wind  sprang  up  which  dissipated  the  smoke,  and  at  the  same 
time  flames  burst  forth  on  all  sides.  Everything  took  fire 
at  the  same  moment :  the  roadstead,  the  city,  and  the  sur- 


116  AFTER  THE   CONFLAGRATION 

rounding  country.  All  this  could  have  lasted  but  a  few 
moments ;  there  was  no  time  to  flee. 

"  In  this  manner  I  explain  the  phenomena  observed  by 
me  in  the  city  itself, — the  bodies  of  people  appearing  to 
have  perished  without  suffering,  the  small  number  of  corpses 
in  the  street  (there  are  none  except  those  of  passers-by), 
and  the  destruction  of  the  lighthouse  of  the  Place  Bertin, 
which  had  not  during  the  time  been  touched  by  flame. 
The  city  must  have  been  asphyxiated,  the  fiery  spout  having 
exhausted  all  the  air  that  could  be  breathed.  Perhaps  there 
was  also  a  mingling  of  explosive  gas,  for  at  Fort- de-France 
we  heard  loud  detonations.  I  returned  to  the  capital  with 
the  conviction,  I  may  say  with  the  assurance,  that  not  a 
single  resident  of  Saint  Pierre  could  have  saved  himself. 

"  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  all  the  inhabitants  of  the 
region  lying  between  Sainte  Philomene,  Fonds-Core,  Trois 
Pouts,  Morne  Abel,  Morne  d'Orange,  and  the  Quartier 
Monsieur  inclusive,  have  disappeared." 

The  incidents  connected  with  the  escape  of  the  negro 
prisoner  from  Saint  Pierre  form  one  of  the  most  striking 
episodes  in  the  destruction  of  that  city,  and  furnish  a  per- 
sonal experience  which  is  of  interest  in  the  light  that  it 
throws  upon  the  problem  of  the  catastrophe.  So  unique  a 
record  is  perhaps  not  to  be  found  in  all  the  pages  of  history, 
and  even  from  the  lighter  vein  of  romance  it  would  be  diffi- 
cult to  extract  anything  that  has  more  extraordinary  rela- 
tions. 

From   Thursday    until    Sunday    Auguste    Ciparis    was 


AFTEE  THE   CONFLAGRATION  117 

lingering  in  the  dungeon  of  the  city  jail,  knowing  nothing, 
beyond  his  own  wounds,  of  the  world's  tempest  that  had 
rocked  over  him.  He  was  burned  to  flesh  and  bone,  but 
he  knew  not  that  others  had  been  burned  like  him,  and 
more.  His  cell  was  windowless,  and  all  that  could  be  seen 
of  the  outer  world  came  by  way  of  the  grated  aperture  in 
the  upper  part  of  the  door.  No  sound  penetrated  to  his 
cell,  not  even  the  tread  of  the  keeper's  footsteps  came  to 
relieve  the  silence  of  this  desolate  abode. 

When  I  was  at  Morne  Rouge  on  June  2,  I  knew  that 
Ciparis  was  still  confined  there  in  a  temporary  lazaret  which 
had  been  established  by  the  faithful  priest  of  that  district, 
Pere  Mary,  but  circumstances  did  not  permit  me  to  see  him 
at  the  time,  and,  unfortunately,  the  opportunity  for  an 
interview  never  again  presented  itself.  It  was  a  good 
service  to  history,  however,  to  have  the  statement  of  this 
negro  taken  by  so  accurate  a  recorder  as  Mr.  George  Ken- 
nan,  who  had  preceded  me  by  a  number  of  days,  and  who 
has  placed  the  facts  which  he  gave  to  me  personally  in  a 
published  form  (Outlook,  July  26,  1902).  At  the  time 
of  Mr.  Kennan's  interview  Ciparis  was  still  showing  the 
effects  of  the  frightful  burns  which  his  back  and  legs  had 
received,  but  was  sufficiently  composed  to  give  a  clear  and 
dispassionate  account  of  his  sufferings  and  of  the  physical 
conditions  that  presented  themselves  to  him.  As  he  stated 
his  own  experience,  he  was  waiting  for  the  usual  break- 
fast on  the  8th,  when  it  suddenly  grew  dark,  and  imme- 
diately afterwards  hot  air,  laden  with  ash,  entered  his  room 
through  the  door-grating.  It  came  gently  but  fiercely. 


118  AFTEE  THE  CONFLAGKATION 

His  flesh  was  instantly  burned,  and  he  jumped  about  in 
agony,  vainly  calling  for  help.  There  was  no  help  to  come. 
The  heat  that  scorched  him  was  intense,  but  lasted  for  an 
instant  only,  and  during  that  time  he  almost  ceased  to 
breathe.  There  was  no  accompanying  smoke,  no  noise  of 
any  kind,  and  no  odor  to  suggest  a  burning  gas.  The  hot 
air  and  ash  were  the  working  demons  that  tore  his  flesh. 
Ciparis  was  clad  at  that  time  in  hat,  shirt  and  trousers,  but 
his  clothing  did  not  take  fire  ;  yet  beneath  his  shirt,  the 
back  was  terribly  burned,  and  his  body  gave  out  the  odor 
of  burning  flesh.  It  is  difficult  to  conceive  of  a  lasting 
agony  greater  than  that  which  was  suffered  by  this  man. 
For  three  days  and  more  he  had  been  without  food  of  any 
kind,  and  his  only  sustaining  nourishment  was  the  water 
of  his  cell.  This  appears  to  have  been  unaffected  by  the 
entering  hot  wave.  During  his  long  imprisonment  he  fre- 
quently shouted  for  help,  but  the  cries  of  "  Save  me !"  were 
answered  only  by  the  groans  of  anguish  that  followed.  It 
continued  this  way  until  the  following  Sunday,  when  it 
chanced  that  searching  parties  neared  his  place  of  im- 
prisonment. He  heard  voices,  and  renewed  his  cries  for 
help.  The  voices  were  those  of  two  negroes,  who,  when 
they  satisfied  themselves  that  the  sound  that  came  to  them 
was  from  a  human  being,  immediately  began  the  task  of 
rescue.  The  refuge  was  broken  open,  and  in  a  short  time 
the  half-dead  prisoner  was  brought  to  free  air. 

The  history  of  the  "prisoner  of  Saint  Pierre,"  while 
most  interesting  in  its  details,  is  to  an  extent  shorn  of  its 
romance  by  the  later  discovery  of  at  least  one  other  sur- 


AFTEE  THE   CONFLAGKATION  119 

vivor,  Leon  Compere-Leandre,  also  a  negro,  whose  experi- 
ence, as  given  to  a  representative  of  the  Temps,  is  published 
in  the  Bulletin  of  the  Societe  Astronomique  de  France  (Au- 
gust, 1902,  p.  352).  Leandre,  who  was  a  shoemaker  by 
trade,  is  described  as  being  about  twenty-eight  years  of 
age,  strongly  built,  and  with  a  robust  and  vigorous  aspect. 
"On  the  8th  of  May,"  he  says,  "about  eight  o'clock  of 
the  morning,  I  was  seated  on  the  door-step  of  my  house, 
which  was  in  the  southeastern  part  of  the  city,  and  on  the 
Trace  road  (the  road  from  Saint  Pierre  to  Fort-de-France 
which  abuts,  almost  in  the  centre  of  the  city,  upon  the 
street  Petit- Versailles).  All  of  a  sudden  I  felt  a  terrible 
wind  blowing,  the  earth  began  to  tremble,  and  the  sky  sud- 
denly became  dark.  I  turned  to  go  into  the  house,  made 
with  great  difficulty  the  three  or  four  steps  that  separated 
me  from  my  room,  and  felt  my  arms  and  legs  burning,  also 
my  body.  I  dropped  upon  a  table.  At  this  moment  four 
others  sought  refuge  in  my  room,  crying  and  writhing  with 
pain,  although  their  garments  showed  no  sign  of  having 
been  touched  by  flame.  At  the  end  of  ten  minutes,  one  of 
these,  the  young  Delavaud  girl,  aged  about  ten  years,  fell 
dead ;  the  others  left.  I  then  got  up  and  went  into  another 
room,  where  I  found  the  father  Delavaud,  still  clothed  and 
lying  on  the  bed,  dead.  He  was  purple  and  inflated,  but 
the  clothing  was  intact.  I  went  out,  and  found  in  the  court 
two  corpses  interlocked :  they  were  the  bodies  of  the  two 
young  men  who  had  before  been  with  me  in  the  room. 
Keentering  the  house,  I  came  upon  two  other  bodies,  of  two 
men  who  had  been  in  the  garden  when  I  returned  to  my 


120  AFTER  THE   CONFLAGRATION 

house  at  the  beginning  of  the  catastrophe.  Crazed  and 
almost  overcome,  I  threw  myself  upon  a  bed,  inert  and 
awaiting  death.  My  senses  returned  to  me  in  perhaps  an 
hour,  when  I  beheld  the  roof  burning.  With  sufficient 
strength  left,  my  legs  bleeding  and  covered  with  burns, 
I  ran  to  Fonds-Saint-Denis,  six  kilometres  from  Saint 
Pierre.  With  the  exception  of  the  persons  of  whom  I 
have  spoken,  I  heard  no  human  cries ;  I  experienced  no 
degree  of  suffocation,  and  it  was  only  air  that  was  lacking 
to  me.  But  it  was  burning.  There  were  neither  ashes  nor 
mud.  The  entire  city  was  aflame." 

These  single  escapes  from  Saint  Pierre  only  put  into 
more  prominent  relief  the  extraordinary  nature  of  the 
death-dealing  blow,  whose  harvest  was  relentlessly  com- 
plete, and  permitted  practically  no  one  to  escape  its  path. 
The  condition  ie,  indeed,  almost  inconceivable,  for  the 
marvel  is  not  that  there  should  have  been  two  isolated  cases 
of  seemingly  miraculous  preservation,  but  that  there  were 
not  many  more  of  the  same  kind.  A  scorch-blast  that 
clears  all  human  life  before  it,  and  leaves  in  places  un- 
touched objects  that  are  normally  thought  to  be  most 
destructible,  has  many  things  for  its  characteristics  which 
science  has  still  to  learn. 


vni 

VESUVIUS   AND   POMPEII:    A   PAKALLEL 

WHATEVER  position  may  be  assigned  to  the  eruption  of 
Mont  Pelee  and  the  destruction  of  Saint  Pierre  in  the  cate- 
gory of  volcanic  catastrophism,  it  is  certain  that  in  the 
popular  mind  the  phenomena  of  May  8  will  most  gener- 
ally be  associated  with  those  of  seemingly  similar  nature 
which  caused  the  overshadowing  of  Pompeii  and  Hercu- 
laneum.  Nor,  indeed,  can  the  scientific  mind  well  turn 
from  this  comparison,  however  differently  the  facts  in  the 
two  cases  may  present  themselves.  The  annihilation  of 
two  cities  of  almost  exactly  the  same  population,  of  nearly 
equivalent  position  in  relation  to  their  destroyer,  and  the 
suddenness  of  the  paroxysm  which  forced  the  destruction 
of  life  and  property,  instinctively  suggest  this  parallel,  if 
nothing  more.  The  two  events,  for  the  moment  at  least, 
stand  apart  in  the  history  of  the  world. 

The  historic  records  of  the  past  are,  unfortunately,  of 
such  a  nature  as  to  compel  the  acceptance  of  a  generous 
supply  of  uncertainty  in  their  consideration,  and  the 
weighing  of  evidence  the  truth  of  which  in  some  instances 
cannot  be  established.  The  exact  information  that  we  pos- 
sess relating  to  the  destruction  of  the  Roman  cities  is  so 
meagre  that  one  is  almost  tempted  to  say  that  it  does  not 
exist  at  all.  In  the  writings  of  the  younger  Pliny  alone 

have  we  a  contemporary  statement  describing  the  Vesuvian 

121 


122  VESUVIUS   AND   POMPEII:   A   PAEALLEL 

eruption  of  the  year  79,  but  in  his  famous  letters  to  Tacitus 
this  observer  makes  no  mention,  by  name  at  least,  of  either 
Pompeii  or  Herculaneum.  This  extraordinary  lapse  has, 
indeed,  given  reason  for  the  belief  that  Pompeii  and  Her- 
culaneum were  not  destroyed  at  this  time,  nor  even  neces- 
sarily at  the  same  time,  as  had  been  forcibly  argued  by 
Lippi,  in  his  work,  "Fu  il  Fuoco  o  L'Acqua  che  soterro  Pom- 
pei  ed  Ercolano?"  (Naples,  1816);  for  it  has  been  thought 
inconceivable  that  an  observer  so  careful  in  recording  facts 
as  was  Pliny  should  have  failed  to  note  the  principal  inci- 
dent in  the  events  that  he  was  describing.  His  position  at 
Misenum  was  such  as  to  command  under  ordinary  conditions 
the  sites  of  both  the  Roman  cities ;  and  he  could  not  have 
failed  to  obtain  information  of  so  important  a  fact  as  a 
destruction  from  runners,  or  from  the  very  persons  who 
brought  to  him  the  details  of  his  uncle's  death.  On  the 
other  hand,  Pliny's  object  in  writing  his  letters  to  Tacitus 
being  mainly  to  give  an  account  of  his  uncle's  experiences, 
it  may  not  have  been  thought  necessary  at  that  late  day,11 
the  writing  following  the  event  by  many  years,  to  refer  to 
a  general  calamity  whose  nature  must  have  been  known 
to  everybody.  Much  of  the  narrative  bears  evidence  of 
haying  been  compiled  from  memory,  and  a  memory  that 
was  perhaps  in  a  measure  faulty.  The  statement,  for  ex- 
ample, that  the  eruption  of  Vesuvius  took  place  on  the 
"  ninth  of  the  calends  of  September"  (corresponding  to  the 
24th  of  August  of  our  calendar)  has  been  corrected  by 
some  commentators  to  read  the  calends  of  December,  and 
for  the  reason,  as  claimed,  that  certain  fruits  found  pre- 


VESUVIUS  AND   POMPEII:   A   PAEALLEL  123 

served  among  the  ruins  of  Herculaneum  were  of  a  kind 
that  in  the  region  of  Campania  do  not  appear  before  the 
month  of  October.  This  discrepancy  was  already  noted  by 
Professor  Gaetano  D'Ancora  as  early  as  1803,  in  his  work, 
"  Storio-Fiswo  degli  Scam  di  Ercolano  e  di  Pompei;"  but 
this  one  fact  could  with  equal  force  be  used  as  an  argu- 
ment to  sustain  the  view  that  Herculaneum  was  not  de- 
stroyed at  the  time  of  the  great  Vesuvian  eruption. 

If  Pliny  makes  no  direct  mention  of  the  fall  of  Pom- 
peii and  Herculaneum,  yet  very  nearly  the  first  sentence  in 
his  Epistola  XVI  might  perhaps  be  construed  as  noting 
that  catastrophe :  Quamvis  enim  pulcherrimarum  clade  ter- 
rarum,  ut  populi,  ut  urbes,  memorabili  casu  quasi  semper 
victurus  occiderit.  Such  an  interpretation,  if  sought  for, 
can,  indeed,  easily  be  found  in  the  works  of  several  of 
Pliny's  translators.  Earl  Orrery  and  Melmoth  both  trans- 
late the  passage  above  quoted  in  such  a  way  as  to  make  it 
presumable  that  Pliny  makes  a  direct  reference  to  the  main 
fact  of  the  catastrophe,  although  not  stating  it  in  word. 
Earl  Orrery's  translation  appears :  "  For  although  his  fall 
was  attended  by  the  destruction  of  most  beautiful  terri- 
tories, seeming,  as  it  were,  destined  to  be  remembered 
equally  with  those  nations  and  cities  who  perish  by  some 
memorable  event."  * 

Were  the  information  that  Pliny  conveys  all  that  we 

*  A  better  rendering  would  perhaps  be :  "  For  although  he  per- 
ished in  the  destruction  of  these  fairest  of  lands,  yet  he  was  destined 
to  survive  forever  just  as  cities  and  peoples  visited  by  some  great 
catastrophe." 


124  VESUVIUS   AND    POMPEII:   A   PARALLEL 

possessed  regarding  the  Vesuvian  eruption  of  79,  one  would 
be,  indeed,  well  justified,  even  with  the  favor  of  the  pas- 
sage above  quoted,  in  doubting  that  the  overwhelming  of 
Pompeii  and  Herculaneum  were  part  of  the  same  event. 
But  the  historic  narration  of  Dion  Cassius,  even  with  its 
fanciful  details,  can  hardly  be  considered  otherwise  than 
as  supplying  the  deficiency  which  is  left  to  us  by  Pliny,  for 
it  could  not  well  have  been  constructed  without  a  knowledge 
of  facts  then  existing,  even  though  many  generations  had 
passed  since  Pliny's  writing.  This  view  is  made  the  more 
probable,  seeing  that  no  great  eruption  of  Vesuvius  is  noted 
in  the  interval  between  the  year  79  and  the  appearance  of 
Dion  Cassius's  history  ;  nor  do  historians  make  reference  to 
any  important  destruction  of  towns  or  villages  during  this 
interval. 

Dion  Cassius,  and  after  him  nearly  all  historians,  refer 
the  destruction  of  life  and  property  in  Pompeii  to  an  over- 
whelming fall  of  ashes  and  cinders,  and  the  accompaniment 
of  asphyxiating  gases.  The  city  itself  is  largely  in  ruins, 
and  this  condition  gives  emphasis  to  Pliny's  statement  that 
violent  earthquakes  were  a  part  of  the  phenomena  to  which 
he  was  witness.  But  we  are  not  informed  what  amount  of 
damage  was  wrought  by  these  earth-tremors;  nor  do  we 
positively  know  how  far  the  ruin  that  had  been  inflicted 
by  the  earlier  earthquake  of  63  had  at  that  time  been  re- 
paired, although  it  would  seem  from  the  studies  of  Over- 
beck  and  others  that  most  of  the  better  houses  and  public 
edifices  had  been  fully  restored. 

The  condition  of  the  ruins  at  Pompeii  does  not  entirely 


VESUVIUS   AND   POMPEII:   A    PARALLEL  125 

forbid  a  comparison  with  those  of  Saint  Pierre.  There  is 
much  that  is  suggestively  common  to  both  places — much 
that  is  different.  The  form  of  destruction  that  is  repre- 
sented in  Saint  Pierre  is  much  more  violent,  cataclysmic, 
than  in  Pompeii,  but  the  character  of  the  ruins  in  the  latter 
city  does  not  entirely  remove  the  suspicion  that  some  other 
agent  besides  simple  ashes  and  possible  earthquakes  may 
have  been  at  work  in  their  formation.  Had  the  data  that  we 
now  possess  been  available  to  the  earlier  writers  on  Pompeii, 
it  is  not  unreasonable  to  suppose  that  a  somewhat  different 
interpretation  might  have  been  given  to  the  destruction 
than  the  one  that  has  come  down  to  us  from  the  days  of 
Dion  Cassius ;  for  the  particular  kind  of  destructivity  which 
characterized  the  eruption  of  Mont  Pelee  had  not  been 
recognized  before,  and  consequently  could  not  have  been 
used  as  an  alternative  in  analysis  to  the  evidence  which  was 
carried  by  the  covering  of  ashes  and  lapilli.  The  crum- 
bled condition  of  the  city,  for  example,  where  not  identified 
with  the  seismic  movement  of  63,  has  invariably  been  ac- 
cepted as  proof  of  new  earthquake  disturbances,  but  the 
dislocation  of  the  whole  of  Saint  Pierre,  without  earth- 
quake movements  of  any  kind,  makes  necessarily  doubtful 
this  interpretation  of  a  portion  of  Pompeii's  history. 

The  statement  that  the  lives  lost  in  Pompeii,  which  may 
have  been  from  eight  hundred  to  fifteen  hundred,  was  the 
result  of  a  sudden  or  steady  overwhelming  by  hot  ash  cer- 
tainly appears  plausible  on  its  face,  and  it  gains  strength 
through  the  further  statement  that  the  elder  Pliny,  in  his 
effort  to  render  assistance  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  threat- 


126  VESUVIUS   AND   POMPEII:   A   PAEALLEL 

ened  region  near  the  foot  of  Vesuvius,  was  unable  to  effect 
a  landing  with  the  vessel  or  vessels  of  his  fleet ;  hence  the 
journey  over  to  Stabise,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  bay, 
where  lived  Pliny's  friend,  Pomponianus,  and  where  the 
Roman  fleet-commander  succumbed.  But  that  which  con- 
flicts with  this  assumption  is  the  fact  that  most  of  the  in- 
habitants of  Pompeii  had  in  truth  left  the  city  prior  to  its 
destruction  or  overwhelming — a  condition  that  is  indis- 
putably proved  by  the  small  number  of  bodies  or  skele- 
tons that  have  been  found  in  the  ruins,  and  which  stands  in 
opposition  to  the  fanciful  statement  of  Dion  Cassius  that 
the  inhabitants  were  destroyed  while  witnessing  a  perform- 
ance in  the  theatre  (theatres).  Nor  is  this  fact  wholly  in 
harmony  with  the  statement  of  the  younger  Pliny  that  a  mes- 
sage of  danger  had  been  received  from  Rectina,12  asking  for 
delivery,  because  all  avenues  of  escape,  except  that  of  the 
water,  had  been  cut  off  from  her  location. 

A  further  disturbing  fact  in  this  analysis  is  the  circum- 
stance that  many  of  the  bodies  unearthed  in  the  course  of 
modern  excavation  were  found  in  attitudes  of  action  or 
motion,  of  full  composure,  and  of  seeming  indifference  to 
impending  danger.  The  reconstruction,  however  fanciful 
it  may  be,  of  the  baker  standing  over  his  oven,  with  the 
baked  bread  alongside  of  him ;  of  the  slave  disputing  with 
his  master,  the  latter  holding  the  bunch  of  keys  in  his 
hands,  of  the  sleeping  dog,  etc.,  is  a  familiar  theme  and 
chapter  in  the  history  of  Pompeii ;  but  it  is  also  the  em- 
phatic counterpart  of  the  history  of  Saint  Pierre,  and  the 
two  can  be  justly  thought  to  read  the  same  episode  in 


VESUVIUS   AND   POMPEII:   A   PAEALLEL  127 

nature.  It  is  not  reasonable  to  assume  that  these  poor  in- 
habitants of  a  city,  which  was  already  deserted  by  the 
greater  portion  of  its  population,  could  have  died  a  death 
resulting  from  progressive  incineration.  Why  have  re- 
mained, it  can  properly  be  asked,  in  the  face  of  such  accu- 
mulating danger  ?  Why  not  have  followed  the  balance  of 
the  population  elsewhere  ?  One  can  more  readily  believe 
that  those  destroyed  in  Pompeii  were  slaves,  hirelings,  and 
others,  who  had  returned  from  some  point  of  safety  to  re- 
move or  recover  needed  household-goods  and  articles  of 
luxury,  and  that  during  this  visit,  not  thought  at  the  time 
to  be  particularly  dangerous,  they  were  suddenly  anni- 
hilated. Evidence  favoring  this  assumption  can  easily  be 
found  in  the  circumstance  that  many  of  the  bodies,  when 
recovered,  were  found  lying  in  the  ash  high  above  the 
ground-surface.  This  was  the  condition  in  one  of  the  most 
interesting  of  the  Fiorelli  finds — the  four  bodies  recovered 
in  the  Via  del  Balcone  Pensili. 

The  covering  of  ashes  and  lapilli  that  overlies  Pompeii 
has  a  general  thickness  of  fifteen  to  twenty  feet,  the  greater 
part  of  which  is  more  commonly  assumed — although  dis- 
puted by  many — to  be  the  resultant  of  the  single  eruption 
of  Vesuvius  in  79.  The  lowest  stratum  of  eight  feet 
seems  to  be  composed  almost  entirely  of  loose  lapilli  or 
pumice,  having  a  generally  uniform  appearance  and  com- 
position. Those  who  hold  to  the  view  that  Pompeii's  de- 
struction was  one  of  simple  incineration  (or  of  incineration 
helped  by  seismic  disturbances)  point  to  this  covering  of  ash 
and  cinders,  which  is  indeed  very  heavy,  but  there  is  hardly 


128  VESUVIUS   AND   POMPEII:   A  PAEALLEL 

a  way  at  this  time  of  ascertaining  what  proportion  of  this 
impounding  material  is  representative  of  a  single  volcanic 
eruption,  or  of  a  series  of  eruptions  which  may  have  fol- 
lowed one  another  in  fairly  rapid  succession.  The  absence 
or  presence  of  stratification  is  not  an  unfailing  test  in  this 
matter,  as  the  loose  fragmented  material  of  volcanic  dis- 
charges is  rapidly  readjusted,  especially  where  its  position 
is  almost  directly  under  the  cloud  of  torrential  rains.  A 
"stratifying"  ash  in  such  position  might  readily  be  eaten 
out  where  the  lapilli  or  pumice  would  remain  intact.  Such 
is  certainly  the  condition  which  one  finds  to-day  at  Saint 
Pierre,  after  a  considerable  number  of  ash-falls  and  heavy 
rains. 

Geologists  who  have  studied  the  Pompeian  field  have 
lent  themselves  facilely  to  the  theory  of  an  overwhelming 
sheet  of  ash  and  cinders  largely  on  the  ocular  evidence  that 
is  presented  to  them  by  the  covering  matrix  and  by  the 
general  form  of  Vesuvius  itself.  It  has  come  to  be  a  recog- 
nized belief  with  these  investigators  that  the  modern  form 
of  Vesuvius,  as  distinguished  from  Monte  Somma,  dates 
from  the  eruption  of  79,  which  blew  off  the  head  of  the 
ancient  volcano,  or  true  Vesuvius,  and  gave  us  the  double 
mountain  which  so  picturesquely  dominates  the  landscape 
of  the  Neapolitan  Gulf.  Had  a  cataclysm  of  this  nature, 
comparable  in  magnitude  with  the  cataclysms  of  Papanda- 
yang  in  1772,  of  Krakatao  in  1883,  and  of  Bandai-San  in 
1888,  actually  taken  place,  it  would  assuredly  have  fur- 
nished material  sufficient  to  bury  most  of  the  cities  of  Cam- 
pania situated  on  the  side  of  the  overthrow ;  but  it  could, 


VESUVIUS   AND   POMPEII:   A   PAEALLEL  129 

at  the  same  time,  not  have  escaped  the  -attention  of  the 
younger  Pliny,  nor  have  been  eliminated  from  his  graphic 
observations  on  the  volcano's  activity.  The  spectacle  would 
have  been  too  momentous,  too  terrifying  in  its  various 
aspects,  not  to  have  produced  a  profound,  an  indelible  im- 
pression upon  the  mind  of  the  young  investigator.  And  it 
would  have  been  impossible  in  the  face  of  such  a  destruc- 
tion to  quietly  pen  the  lines :  Nee  defuerunt  quifictis  menti- 
tisque  terroribus  Vera  pericula  auger ent  ("  there  were  those 
who  magnified  the  real  dangers  by  imaginary  and  false 
terrors." — Orrery).13 

In  truth,  about  the  only  reason  that  geologists  have  for 
assuming  this  decapitation  of  Vesuvius  in  the  year  79, 
the  theory  of  which  has  been  so  carefully  elaborated  by  Sir 
William  Hamilton,  Breislak  ("  Voyages  dans  la  Campanie," 
1801),  Johnston-Lavis  and  others,  is  the  statement  of 
Strabo  that  in  his  time  the  summit  of  the  mountain  "  was 
for  the  most  part  level,  and  wholly  barren,  covered  with 
ashes,  etc.,"  supported  by  the  further  fact  that  the  ancient 
writers  generally,  speaking  of  Vesuvius,  make  mention  of 
a  single  summit  only.  This  ignores,  and  perhaps  justly, 
whatever  weight  may  have  been  carried  by  the  earlier 
accounts  describing  Spartacus's  refuge  in  the  crater  of  the 
volcano.  It  must  be  admitted,  however,  that  this  form  of 
evidence  is  very  slender,  and  wholly  insufficient  to  establish 
so  important  a  premise.  Mountain  forms  are,  of  all  the 
objects  in  nature,  the  most  difficult  to  describe,  and  probably 
with  most  persons  the  more  imposing  point  of  view  will 
constitute  the  basis  or  nucleus  of  a  full  description.  Vesu- 

9 


130  VESUVIUS   AND   POMPEII:   A   PAEALLEL 

vius  as  it  exists  to-day,  or  as  it  was  a  few  years  ago  when 
the  summit  was  once  more  in  the  condition  of  a  flat  plain 
without  crateral  hollow,  is  so  prominent  an  object  beside 
Monte  Somma  that  it  could  readily  be  taken  to  be  the  pict- 
ure ;  and  it  may  be  questioned  if  the  greater  number  of 
persons  visiting  Naples  to-day  are  aware  of  the  presence  of 
two  mountains.  Indeed,  Delia  Torre  himself,  in  his  "His- 
toire  et  Phenomenes  du  Vesuve"  (1760),  after  exhausting  all 
the  evidence  in  favor  of  the  position  afterwards  assumed  by 
Hamilton,  justly  asks :  "  After  all,  who  can  state  that  the 
ancients  in  describing  Vesuvius  with  a  single  summit  did 
not  refer  their  descriptions  to  positions  whence  the  moun- 
tain really  appeared  single,  as  it  does  to-day  from  many 
points ;  and  that  there  were  not  other  positions,  just  as  to- 
day, whence  the  mountain  appeared  with  two  summits."* 

This  argument  is  certainly  unanswerable,  and  goes  to 
the  pith  of  the  inquiry.  While  it  does  not  permit  us  to 
summarily  dismiss  the  text-book  illustrations  of  the  recon- 
structed Vesuvius  of  the  time  of  Titus,  it  is  sufficient  to 
make  their  value  exceedingly  dubious  and  to  make  more 
than  questionable  the  accepted  teaching  of  geology. 

The  discovery  among  the  Pompeian  frescoes  of  a  num- 
ber of  pictorial  representations  of  a  mountain-form  almost 
certainly  that  of  Vesuvius,  has  thrown  some  additional 

*  "  Qui  pourrait  dire,  d'ailleurs,  si  les  Anciens,  en  decrivant  le 
Vesuve  avec  un  seul  sommet,  ne  Vont  pas  observe  des  endroits  d'ou  il  nous 
parait  encore  tel  aujourd  Jhui,  qui  sont  en  assez  grand  nombre ;  et  s'il  riy 
avait  pas  alors  d'autres  lieux,  comme  il  y  en  a  encore  a  present,  d'  ou  il 
parut  en  avoir  deux." 


VESUVIUS   AND   POMPEII:   A   PAEALLEL 


131 


light  upon  this  subject,  and  should,  it  seems  to  me,  be  con- 
clusive in  the  proof  that  the  pictures  offer.  But  the  con- 
clusions, which,  with  a  general  discussion  of  the  subject, 
are  set  forth  at  length  by  Enrico  Cocchia  in  his  paper,  "La 
Forma  nelle  Pitture  e  Descrizioni  Antiche"  published  in  the 
"Atti  della  Reale  Accademia  di  Archeologia,  Letter  e,  e  Belle 


RUE    LUCIE— SAINT    PIERRE 


ArtF  of  Naples  (XXI.,  1900-1901),  differ,  and  supply 
argumentative  conditions  which  the  facts  themselves  do  not 
warrant.  The  three  copies  which  are  furnished  by  Cocchia 
show  plainly,  however  otherwise  deficient,  a  rounded  or  an 
acutely  conical  mountain,  which,  if  applied  in  evidence, 
immediately  disposes  of  Strabo's  contention  that  the  summit 


132  VESUVIUS   AND   POMPEII:   A   PAEALLEL 

was  a  flat  plain — unless,  indeed,  by  this  term  the  Greek 
geographer  meant  to  convey  a  plain  of  any  size,  such  as 
Vesuvius  had  a  few  years  ago  when  the  crateral  hollow  was 
first  filled  in.  There  is  not  in  any  of  them  the  remotest 
suggestion  of  the  truncated  colossus  which  appears  in  most 
of  the  geological  restorations,  and  is  made  to  accommodate 
the  Strabonic  plain.  The  picture  in  the  Latrario  Pom- 
peiano,  where  Vesuvius  is  placed  under  the  protection  of 
Bacchus,  does,  indeed,  confirm  Strabo's  description  of  the 
vine-clad  slopes  of  the  volcano,  but  in  this  picture  the 
mountain  is  acutely  conical,  and  conforms  almost  absolutely 
in  contour  with  the  picture  in  the  Delia  Torre  collection 
depicting  Monte  Somma  immediately  previous  to  the  great 
eruption  of  1631.  Surely  it  is  not  to  be  conceived  that  a 
cataclysm,  such  as  is  argued  for  the  year  79,  could  have 
left  the  major  part  of  the  mountain  with  its  old  outline 
corresponding  with  that  which  appears  nearly  sixteen  hun- 
dred years  later.  One  can,  I  think,  safely  accept  the  con- 
clusions of  Beloch  and  Nissen  that  the  evidence  that  we 
now  possess  is  entirely  insufficient  to  support  the  theory  of 
the  Vesuvian  decapitation  ;  or  farther,  that  evidence  of  this 
character  does  not  exist.* 

*  Geologists  have  gone  still  farther,  and  point  to  the  immense 
amount  of  debris  that  lies  beyond  (southward  of)  Pompeii,  and  which 
has  presumably  converted  the  Roman  city  from  a  port  to  an  inland 
town,  as  evidence  of  this  terrible  destruction ;  but  the  close  investiga- 
tions of  Bosini  and  Ruggiero  show  unmistakably  that  the  extension 
of  the  land  outward  into  the  bay,  and  the  consequent  lengthening  of 
the  course  of  the  Sarno  (the  ancient  Sarnus),  are  the  result  of  accre- 


VESUVIUS   AND    POMPEII:   A   PAEALLEL  133 

Dismissing  these  various  negative  points,  which  are 
more  forcible,  perhaps,  in  rendering  doubtful  the  accepted 
version  of  the  fall  and  destruction  of  that  city  than  as 
establishing  a  positive  correlation  with  the  facts  of  Saint 
Pierre,  it  remains  to  be  seen  what  there  is  to  be  found  in 


BURIAL-VAULT—SAINT    PIERRE 

the  writings  of  Pliny  to  suggest  a  correspondence  between 
the  phenomena  of  Vesuvius,  which  he  so  carefully  observed, 

tional  growth  extending  through  centuries,  and  independent  of  vol- 
canic catastrophisra.  This  view  is  accepted  by  Overbeck  in  his 
"Pompeii,  in  seinen  Gebduden,  Alterthumern,  und  Kunstwerken"  1884, 
in  collaboration  with  Mau. 


134  VESUVIUS   AND   POMPEII:   A   PAEALLEL 

and  those  of  Mont  Pelee.  It  will  be  recalled  that  the 
main  feature  in  the  eruption  of  Pelee  was  the  great  black 
cloud,  luminous  in  part  with  incandescent  particles  or  with 
burning  flame,  which  shot  out  from  the  crater,  rolled  down 
the  mountain-side  with  dazzling  velocity,  and  fell  upon  the 
doomed  city,  destroying  it  and  the  life  that  it  contained 
almost  instantly.  In  his  Epistola  XX  Pliny  writes :  "Ab 
altero  latere  nubes  atra  et  horrenda  ignei  spiritus  tortis 
vibratisque  discursibus  rupta  in  longas  flammarum  figuras 
dehiscebat :  fulguribus  illce  et  similes  et  majores  erant" 
Whatever  latitude  may  be  given  to  a  true  interpretation  of 
this  sentence,  it  is  remarkable  that  the  two  translations  of 
Pliny's  works  which  are  generally  accepted  for  their 
strength,  those  of  Melmoth  and  Earl  Orrery,  give  to  the 
passage  a  rendering  which,  were  it  accepted  literally,  would 
establish  so  close  a  correspondence  between  the  phenomena 
of  79  and  those  of  1902  as  to  make  it  difficult  to  resist  the 
conclusion  that  they  were  fundamentally  alike.  Melmoth's 
translation  of  the  passage  appears  as  follows  :  "  On  the  other 
side,  a  black  and  terrible  cloud,  bursting  with  an  igneous 
serpentine  vapor,  darted  out  a  long  train  of  fire,  resembling, 
but  much  larger  than,  the  flashes  of  lightning."  And  Or- 
rery's :  "  On  the  land-side  a  dark  and  horrible  cloud, 
charged  with  combustible  matter,  suddenly  broke  and  shot 
forth  a  long  trail  of  fire,  in  the  nature  of  lightning,  but  in 
larger  flashes."  Either  description  in  its  application  to  the 
destroying  cloud  of  Pelee  might  be  taken  to  replace  the 
descriptions  of  the  officers  of  the  Pouyer-Quertier,  Captain 
Freeman,  M.  Arnoux,  or  Pere  Mary,  while  it  in  no  way 


VESUVIUS   AND   POMPEII:   A   PAEALLEL  135 

interprets  the  phenomena  of  the  ordinary  ash-cloud  that 
belonged  either  to  Pelee  or  to  Vesuvius.  This  black  cloud, 
with  its  "  trail  of  fire,"  differing  from  lightning,  might 
reasonably  be  taken  to  be  the  correspondent  of  the  "  wall 
of  fire"  to  which  the  unfortunate  sea-captains  in  the  road- 
stead of  Saint  Pierre  refer  in  their  narratives. 

Pliny  clearly  wishes  to  distinguish  between  this  terri- 
fying cloud  and  the  ordinary  ash-cloud  of  the  volcano,  for 
he  adds :  "Nee  multo  post  ilia  nubes  descender e  in  ierras, 
operire  maria"  ("  not  long  afterwards,  the  cloud  descended, 
and  enshrouded  the  sea");  and  still  later:  " respicio 
densa  caligo  terges  imminebat,  quce  nos  torrentis  modo  in- 
fusa  terrce  sequebatur"  which  appears  in  Earl  Orrery's 
translation  as :  "I  looked  back.  A  thick  dark  vapor  just 
behind  us  rolled  along  the  ground  like  a  torrent,  and  fol- 
lowed us."  To  make  it  certain  that  this  was  not  the  ordi- 
nary ash-cloud,  the  further  fact  is  stated  that :  "  the  ashes 
now  began  falling,  although  in  no  considerable  quantity" 
("jam  cinis  adhuc  tamen  rarus").  It  would  be  difficult 
to  construct  a  description  more  thoroughly  according  with 
that  given  by  the  commandant  of  the  Pouyer-Quertier  for 
the  descending,  rolling  cloud  of  June  6,  which  is  repre- 
sented to  have  been  the  exact  counterpart  of  the  one  of  May 
8 ;  or  one  more  thoroughly  inapplicable  to  the  ordinary 
phenomena  of  eruptions. 

It  is  to  be  noted  as  a  singular  fact  that  in  this  first  re- 
ported eruption  of  Vesuvius  there  was  no  emission  of  lava 
—a  condition  very  different  from  what  appears  in  the  later 
cataclysms  of  that  volcano.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  not 


136  VESUVIUS   AND   POMPEII:   A   PARALLEL 

unlikely  that  there  may  have  been  extensive  mud-flows,  and 
that  one  of  these  overwhelmed  Herculaneum,  just  as  the 
great  mud-flow  of  May  5  from  Pelee  overwhelmed  the  Usine 
Guerin.  Many  of  the  earlier  observers,  and  notably  Lippi, 
of  the  Herculanean  Academy  of  Naples,  have  argued  for 
this  form  of  destruction  of  the  city,  and  assuredly  their 
view  is  more  plausible  than  that  which  assumes  the  ordinary 
fall  of  cinders  and  ashes  united  with  the  volcanic  waters  or 
rains  into  puzzuolana.  The  discrepancy  between  the  condi- 
tion that  exists  here  and  that  at  Pompeii  is  too  great  to  per- 
mit of  the  acceptance  of  this  explanation.14 

Students  of  Pompeian  history  have  always  been  puzzled 
to  account  for  the  condition  of  undress  to  which  the  casts 
of  so  many  of  the  bodies  entombed  in  the  ruins  give  evi- 
dence, and  the  speculative,  if  not  wholly  ingenious,  view 
has  been  set  forth  (accepted  by  Fiorelli,  Overbeck  and 
others)  that  the  affrighted  inhabitants  of  the  doomed  city 
sought  to  facilitate  their  movements  in  flight  by  casting  off 
their  clothing.  Some  of  the  casts  show  the  bodies  to  have 
been  absolutely  naked  at  the  time  when  the  mould  or  impres- 
sion in  the  encircling  matrix  was  taken.  Can  it  for  a  mo- 
ment be  assumed  that  under  a  rain  of  hot  or  heated  cinders 
or  of  a  fall  of  cinders  of  any  kind,  a  fleeing  community 
would  divest  itself  of  a  last  garment,  expose  the  naked  flesh 
to  fiery  missiles  or  to  the  direct  blows  of  rapidly-falling  frag- 
ments of  rock  ?  Those  who  have  experienced  the  force  of 
impact  of  these  erupted  fragments  will  appreciate  the  ex- 
treme improbability  of  any  such  condition.  A  far  more 
plausible  explanation  of  the  situation  is  to  be  found  in  the 


VESUVIUS   AND    POMPEII:    A   PAEALLEL 


137 


history  of  Saint  Pierre.  Many  of  the  bodies  recovered  from 
its  ruins  were  also  in  a  state  of  complete  nudity,  having 
been  divested  of  their  clothing  by  the  force  of  the  tornadic 
blast,  in  a  manner  precisely  similar  to  that  which  so  re- 
peatedly happens  in  the  course  of  the  cyclones  or  tornadoes 
of  the  Western  United  States. 


-^fc^      •!-- 

BODIES    ON    THE    TERRACE    ROAD 


There  are  a  number  of  other  resembling  facts  that  asso- 
ciate the  bodies  found  at  Pompeii  with  those  at  Saint  Pierre, 
and  one  has  but  to  glance  at  the  illustrations  of  positions  to 
be  struck  by  their  remarkable  identity.  We  find  the  same 
attitudes  in  posture,  the  identical  ones  in  death.  Groups 
of  bodies  have  been  found  in  Pompeii  (as  in  the  House  of 


138  VESUVIUS   AND   POMPEII:   A   PAKALLEL 

Diomed)  as  well  as  in  Saint  Pierre,  but  in  the  former  city 
they  have  been  mostly  unearthed  from  cellars  or  basements, 
and  it  has  been  assumed  that  the  refuge  from  the  descend- 
ing shower  of  lapilli  and  ashes  was  sought  in  these  subter- 
ranean shelters,  where  death  from  starvation,  asphyxiation 
and  enclosure  finally  overcame  the  unfortunates.  One  may 
well  pause  before  committing  one's  self  to  this  theory,  for  it 
hardly  appears  probable  that  people,  seeing  the  enveloping 
nature  of  the  falling  material  from  the  volcano,  would  de- 
liberately seal  themselves  up  in  such  a  way  as  to  forcibly 
close  off  retreat.  It  is  far  more  natural  to  assume  that  only 
a  momentary  shelter,  suggested  at  the  time  of  the  unrolling 
of  the  great  black  cloud  which  is  described  by  Pliny,  was 
sought  for  by  the  paralyzed  multitude — the  history  that  is 
developed  in  the  ruins  of  Saint  Pierre,  where  groups  of 
bodies  have  been  found  in  basements  and  elsewhere,  hud- 
dled together,  seeking  protection  from  the  approaching 
dragon  of  death. 

Overbeck,  Mau  and  others  refer  to  the  deformed  ves- 
sels of  pottery  and  glass-ware  that  were  found  in  some 
of  the  desolated  habitations,  and,  adhering  to  the  theory 
that  there  was  no  extensive  conflagration  in  Pompeii,  con- 
clude that  this  deformation  was  the  result  of  a  chemical 
and  physical  process  continuing  through  long  time,  ages,  a 
change  that  has  also  affected  the  coloring  of  many  of  the 
larger  Pompeian  frescoes.  It  should  be  noted  that  pre- 
cisely the  same  deformation  is  a  characteristic  of  the  wares 
removed  from  Saint  Pierre,  and  was  brought  about  in  the 
period  of  a  few  hours  or  less,  in  the  midst  of  a  great  con- 


VESUVIUS   AND   POMPEII:   A   PAEALLEL  139 

flagration,  which  destroyed  color  here  and  left  it  untouched 
elsewhere. 

The  foregoing  analysis  of  the  facts  appertaining  to  the 
Pompeian  catastrophe  is  practically  all  that  is  permitted  to 
us  in  our  present  state  of  knowledge.  It  allows  clearly  of 
the  assumption,  even  if  it  does  not  supply  an  adequate 
demonstration  of  the  fact,  that  the  city  and  its  inhabitants 
were  destroyed  somewhat  in  the  manner  of  Saint  Pierre,  by 
an  explosive  or  tornadic  blast,  and  not  through  simple  in- 
cineration, as  has  been  generally  assumed  by  historians  and 
geologists.  The  evidence  supporting  this  conclusion  is 
found  in  the  Plinian  narrative,  in  the  ruin  characteristics 
of  the  two  cities,  and  in  the  wholly  accordant  condition  in 
which  so  many  of  the  bodies  were  found.  There  are  no 
facts  known  to  us  at  this  time  that  can  properly  be  said  to 
invalidate  this  general  conclusion  ;  and  it  can  truly  be  said, 
that  were  a  historian  or  geologist  to  wander  through  the 
ruins  of  Saint  Pierre,  and  note  his  facts  in  the  absence  of  a 
knowledge  of  what  really  took  place,  he  would  almost  cer- 
tainly come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  ruin,  death  and 
desolation  which  there  prevail  were  brought  about  by 
causes  identical  with  those  which  wrecked  the  Roman  city. 


IX 
ACROSS   THE   ISLAND   TO   ASSIER 

IT  required  no  more  than  a  glance  to  convince  me 
that  to  properly  understand  the  geography  of  the  Pelee 
eruption  an  ascent  of  the  mountain  would  be  necessary.  Its 
past  relief  was  too  imperfectly  known  to  permit  of  a  tabu- 
lation of  its  active  points  on  old  charts,  and  even  the  major 
parts  of  the  surface  were  distinguishable  only  with  diffi- 
culty, not  wholly  relieved  of  doubt.  Some  little  effort  to 
come  in  closer  contact  with  the  volcano  had  been  made 
before  my  arrival  in  Fort-de-France,  but  the  continuance 
of  eruptive  blasts,  and  the  descending  smoke  and  showers 
of  ashes  that  swept  the  side  of  Saint  Pierre,  rendered  the 
attempts  to  approach  abortive,  and  committed  the  investiga- 
tor to  a  distant  study  of  his  subject.  I  felt  that  the  eastern 
or  opposing  face  of  the  mountain,  where  the  favor  of  the 
steadily  blowing  trade-wind  would  be  obtained,  held  out  a 
better  prospect  for  success,  and  accordingly  laid  my  plans  to 
cross  the  island. 

It  was  my  good  fortune  at  this  time  to  meet  M.  Fernand 
Clerc,  one  of  the  wealthiest  cane-growers  in  Martinique, 
whose  independent  thought  and  action  had  saved  him  from 
the  catastrophe  of  the  8th,  and  whose  principal  sugar  estate 
at  Vive  seemed  to  me  most  favorably  situated  for  the  studies 
that  I  had  planned.  Having  himself,  as  a  first  pioneer 
after  the  eruption,  made  a  partial  examination  of  the  vol- 

140 


Expl.  Heilprin 


A    MARTINIQUE    PASTORAL— ASSIER 


ACEOSS   THE   ISLAND   TO   ASSIEE  141 

cano,  he  naturally  felt  a  more  than  kindly  interest  in  my 
work,  and  with  rare  hospitality  placed  at  my  disposition  all 
the  comforts  that  his  estate  offered,  and  even  generously 
undertook  to  send  me  out.  On  the  following  morning,  May 
29,  a  mud-bespattered  wagonette,  not  unlike  an  abbreviated 
Vienna  fiacre,  was  in  waiting  for  us — Mr.  Leadbeater 
accompanying  me — and  with  it  came  a  number  of  letters 
commending  us  to  various  servants  along  the  road,  and  in- 
structing for  a  through  journey.  Our  route  lay  across  some 
of  the  most  interesting  sections  of  the  island,  singularly 
beautiful  in  their  vistas  and  verdant  in  the  glories  of  a  not 
too  oppressively  tropical  vegetation.  The  volcanic  ash  had 
fallen  here  and  there  in  small  quantity,  only  sufficiently  to 
give  a  gray  touch  to  patches  of  soil,  but  not  to  the  extent 
of  seriously  injuring  the  fields  of  brilliant  cane.  After 
leaving  the  heights  above  the  Bay  of  Fort-de-France,  the 
road  descends  to  Lamentin,  whence  it  again  ascends  to  gain 
the  high  point  of  Gros  Morne,  surveying  the  Bays  of 
Robert,  Galion  and  Trinite,  and  from  Trinite  closely  skirts 
the  shore-line  to  the  end.  The  detour  circumscribes  nearly 
a  third  of  the  entire  island,  and  gives  charming  vistas  of 
cultivated  field  and  forest,  of  mountain  peak  and  plain,  and 
of  a  ragged  seashore,  with  outlying  peninsulas,  reefs  and 
islands.  It  covers  about  thirty-five  miles.  The  road  leaves 
Fort-de-France  by  the  native  village,  with  its  shaded  cot- 
tages and  beautifully  flowered  patches  of  garden,  and 
almost  immediately  enters  the  open,  where  scattered  groups 
of  habitations  take  the  place  of  the  village  sites.  These  are 
everywhere  planted  with  the  usual  selection  of  tropical  trees 


142  ACEOSS   THE   ISLAND   TO   ASSIEE 

and  shrubs,  many  of  them  serving  in  the  economy  of  the 
household,  others  grown  for  ornament  only.  The  natives 
are  passionately  fond  of  showy  flowers,  and  there  exists 
hardly  a  house-site  that  is  not  decorated  with  the  magnifi- 
cent scarlet  hibiscus,  or  has  not  its  bunches  of  Bougainvillea 
and  jessamine. 

After  an  hour  and  a  half  we  arrived  at  Lamentin,  a 
commune  of  nearly  eleven  thousand  inhabitants,  and  now, 
after  Fort-de-France,  the  most  populous  location  in  the 
island.  It  is  for  Martinique  a  place  of  considerable  com- 
mercial importance,  being  the  outlet  of  perhaps  the  richest 
cane  region  of  the  colony,  and  having  the  advantages  of 
direct  steamboat  communication  with  Fort-de-France.  Like 
many  of  its  prototypes  in  France,  it  is  a  city  essentially  of 
one  street,  with  the  main  road  entering  at  one  end  and 
leaving  at  the  other.  This  being  market-day,  with  market 
held  in  the  open  as  well  as  in  the  hall  set  aside  for  its  pur- 
poses, the  traversing  thoroughfare  was  thronged,  and  it  was 
with  difficulty  that  we  could  force  a  way  through.  Our 
mission  had  already  been  made  known  to  the  people,  and 
naturally  they  hung  close  to  us,  trying  to  draw  from  our 
superior  experience  (!)  such  comforting  assurances  as  might 
help  to  allay  even  a  modicum  of  their  anxiety.  Of  course 
the  volcan  was  on  everybody's  lips ;  its  possibilities  and 
limitations  were  accepted  and  debated  at  all  corners,  and 
there  were  few  among  the  inquiring  multitude  who  did  not 
seem  to  feel  that  we  could  in  some  way  stand  between  the 
catastrophe  and  the  mountain.  With  the  city's  people  were 
a  number  of  refugees  who  had  come  in  from  the  region  of 


ACROSS   THE   ISLAND   TO   ASSIER 


143 


devastation  and  were  no  longer  willing  to  trust  themselves 
to  PeleVs  capers.  Affrighted,  they  still  carried  on  their 
heads  what  little  belonged  to  them — frequently  nothing 
more  than  could  be  packed  into  a  small  panier,  at  other 
times  with  a  hen  or  rooster  added,  and  the  usual  covering 
bonnet.  They  had  walked  twenty  and  thirty  miles,  and 


Photo.  Heilprin 


REFUGEES    ON    THE    ROAD— GRANDE-ANSE 


were  still  searching  for  an  abiding-place  where  their  sleep 
would  not  be  interrupted  by  Pelee's  rumbling. 

During  our  short  halt  here,  we  were  pleasantly  enter- 
tained in  the  house  of  one  of  the  leading  French  families, 
whose  members  plied  us  thickly  with  questions  bearing 
upon  Mont  Pelee.  Like  everyone  else  in  the  region, 


144  ACEOSS   THE   ISLAND   TO   ASSIEE 

they  were  deeply  interested  in  the  different  problems  that 
the  volcano  had  brought  out,  and  this  interest  was  a  near 
one,  for  even  at  this  distance  the  ash  had  covered,  even 
if  lightly,  much  of  their  estates,  and  the  flying  cinders 
warned  of  a  greater  destruction.  I  explained  in  some  detail 
the  nature  of  our  mission,  and  offered  the  assurance  that  an 
opened  volcano  was  ordinarily  not  as  dangerous  as  one  that 
was  closed ;  but  I  am  certain  that  the  good  people,  despite 
their  polite  assurance  that  my  explanation  was  quite  accept- 
able, continued  to  believe  that  an  active  volcano  was  about 
as  bad  as  it  well  could  be.  The  geological  conception  was 
to  them  not  nearly  so  impressive  as  the  picture  of  ashes  and 
cinders. 

Beyond  Lam  en  tin  the  road  continues  pretty  well  mount- 
ing, until  it  gains  the  summit-crest,  whence  a  most  striking 
view  is  obtained  of  the  Bay  of  Trinite  and  of  the  peninsula 
of  Caravelle  stretching  far  out  to  sea,  with  islands  and  islets 
dotting  the  water  south  of  it.  The  truncated  summit  of 
Vauclin  was  easily  distinguishable  in  the  south,  and  in  the 
extreme  west  the  eye  fell  upon  the  bold  knobs  of  the  Pitons 
de  Carbet ;  there  was  nothing  visible  of  Pelee  or  of  its  great 
ash-cloud.  Many  of  the  stream-beds  that  we  crossed  were 
blocked  with  boulders  of  basalt  or  diorite,  evidently  ob- 
tained from  ancient  lava-flows  or  from  dikes  which  unite 
the  different  volcanic  masses  to  one  another.  Outcrops  of 
this  rock  are  numerous  in  the  hillsides,  and  a  number  of 
them  furnish  the  repair  material  for  road-paving.  All 
through  Martinique  the  work  of  the  department  of  Fonts- 
et-  Chaussees  is  kept  well  in  evidence,  not  alone  in  the  cutting 


ACEOSS  THE   ISLAND   TO   ASS1EE  145 

and  surface  repair  of  roads,  but  in  the  regulation  of  the 
running  waters,  and  the  construction  over  them  of  massive 
bridges  of  iron  and  masonry.  The  beautiful  forest  and 
mountain  road  between  Morne  Rouge  and  Ajoupa-Bouillon, 
which  was  partially  destroyed  in  the  eruption  of  August  30, 
exhibits  the  engineering  qualities  of  that  department  to 
great  advantage  and  pleasantly  reflects  the  service  that  the 
government  pays  to  the  country. 

We  arrived  at  Trinite,  where  we  changed  animals 
for  the  second  time,  shortly  before  two  o'clock.  Trinite, 
which  counts  about  eight  thousand  inhabitants,  is  the  most 
available  port  situated  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  island. 
It  has  an  excellent  and  well-protected  harbor  (whose  ad- 
vantages, however,  are  to  an  extent  lost  in  its  windward 
situation),  and  is  served  by  both  sail-craft  and  steamers 
of  large  draught.  The  town  has  its  pretty  shaded  place, 
from  which  leads  off  the  great  long  street  with  its  rows 
of  low  and  closely-built  houses,  some  plastered,  stuccoed 
and  tinted  yellow,  pink  and  blue — others,  and  the  greater 
number,  of  wood.  As  at  Lamentin,  everybody  was  in  the 
streets.  Our  septuagenarian  hostess,  a  person  of  color 
but  of  exquisite  manner,  who  helped  us  to  the  comforts 
of  her  little  inn,  explained  the  bustle  of  the  streets  and 
the  events  that  had  been  transpiring.  The  difficulty  of 
understanding  the  French-Creole  patois  made  this  explana- 
tion very  welcome,  although  it  was  evident  that  the  excite- 
ment was  all  about  the  mauvaise  montagne.  We  were 
again  nearing  the  gray  ogre,  and  the  closer  we  came  up 

with  it  the  more  absolutely  did  its  doings  engross  the  minds 

10 


146  ACEOSS   THE   ISLAND   TO   ASSIEK 

of  the  people.  It  was  Mont  Pelee  in  everything.  Every 
thunder  detonation,  every  flash  of  lightning,  was  unques- 
tionably a  part  of  Pelee — the  torrents  and  high  seas  were  a 
part  of  the  same  destructive  monster. 

Beyond  Trinite  the  road  follows  closely  the  line  of  the 
coast,  leaving  it  here  and  there  only  for  short  distances  to 
climb  over  the  buttressed  prominences  that  project  into  the 
sea.  It  is  a  charming  piece  of  roadway,  commanding  ex- 
quisite retrospects  over  land  and  water,  and  with  now  and 
then  a  distant  view  of  the  lofty  mountain  summits.  For 
long  distances  it  is  bordered  by  continuous  lines  of  rubber- 
trees  and  elsewhere  by  fields  of  luxuriant  cane.  Much  of 
the  vegetation  of  the  coast  lies  hard-pressed  against  the 
rocks,  blown  to  them  by  the  almost  continuous  east  winds 
which  come  in  from  the  sea,  and  appears  in  recumbent 
masses,  at  first  suggesting  a  covering  of  moss  and  creeping 
plants.  At  many  points  along  the  sea  the  old  deposits  of 
Mont  Pelee,  masses  of  agglomerate  and  tuff,  and  of  rusted 
fields  of  decomposing  lava,  show  up  in  bold  cliffs  and  road- 
banks,  much  of  it  appearing  in  the  form  of  the  orbicular 
disintegration  that  is  so  distinctive  of  certain  eruptive 
rocks. 

We  passed  through  the  towns  of  Sainte  Marie  and 
Marigot  at  a  wild  gallop,  compelling  a  roadway  among  the 
crowds  that  had  assembled.  From  this  point  onward,  to 
Grande- Anse  and  to  Assier,  the  roadway  was  thick  with 
refugees,  who  came  of  all  ages  and  sizes,  each  carrying 
something  that  belonged  to  the  household.  They  had  left 
their  little  huts  and  habitations,  their  smiling  gardens,  and 


ACEOSS  THE   ISLAND   TO   ASSIEE  147 

cultivated  patches  of  cassava,  "  cabbage,"  and  banana  to 
seek  shelter  with  friends,  or  where  a  new  nature  would 
again  help  them  to  a  living.  No  one,  or  but  few,  had 
lost  anything  so  far,  but  it  was  feared  that  a  day  of  reckon- 
ing would  come  to  the  eastern  side  of  the  mountain  as  it 
had  already  come  to  the  western.  The  gardens  and  house- 
tops had  been  grayed  with  ash,  they  had  noted  the  forest 
break  under  the  load  of  mud  that  had  been  flung  upon  it, 
and  they  had  seen  the  sugar-cane  flattened  out  over  acres 
as  if  it  had  been  swept  by  a  tornado.  The  poor  people 
had  also  seen  their  gentle  streams  racing  in  tumultuous 
torrents,  sweeping  out  their  banks,  and  hurling  great 
boulders  against  hamlets  and  villages.  It  was  time  for 
them  to  leave,  they  thought.  From  near  and  far,  they 
came.  Habitations  were  deserted  and  the  work  in  the 
fields  was  stopped.  The  magnificent  growths  of  cane  were 
left  to  do  their  own  work  with  nature — to  grow,  ripen  and 
decay.  There  was  none  to  cut  the  stalk  for  the  large  mills 
nearby,  and  the  gladdening  smoke  no  longer  issued  from 
the  tall  chimneys  of  the  usines  to  mark  the  hours  of  labor. 
Thousands  of  the  peasantry  had  left  their  homes  and  many 
of  the  settlements  showed  hardly  more  than  closed  doors. 
The  few  who  could  better  afford  the  luxury  were  riding  in 
mule-carts  and  ox-carts,  some  few  on  horseback,  but  the 
greater  number,  young  and  old,  were  trudging  along  on 
foot  in  the  manner  of  the  ancient  patriarchs. 

We  arrived  at  the  estate  of  Assier,  to  which  the  hospi- 
tality of  M.  Clerc  had  commended  us,  just  as  the  sun  was 
casting  its  last  rays  upon  the  tall  cloud  that  Pelee  was 


148 


ACEOSS   THE   ISLAND   TO   ASSIEE 


throwing  into  space.  The  day  had  worn  itself  away  so 
that  little  was  to  be  seen  of  the  distant  landscape  beyond 
gray  color  and  mass.  Ragged  banana-leaves  and  drooping 
cocoanut-crowns  were  silhouetted  against  the  western  sky, 
but  the  eye  no  longer  distinguished  between  fields  of  tares 


Photo.  Heilpri 


STREET    SCENE— LAMENTIN 


and  cane,  and  even  the  motley  groups  of  refugees,  who  were 
fleeing  from  the  shadow  of  the  "  bad  mountain,"  were  only 
with  difficulty  discernible  on  the  open  roadside.  The  vol- 
cano was  rolling  out  from  its  crest-line  a  volume  of  cloud 
and  ash  that  fairly  bewildered  the  senses.  Far  up,  two 
miles  and  more,  the  column  of  white  curling  vapors  was 


ACEOSS  THE   ISLAND   TO   ASS1EE  149 

still  mounting  upward — lifting,  rolling  and  unrolling,  until 
it  lost  itself  in  the  general  obscurity  that  surrounded  it 
It  seemed  to  be  by  itself,  severe.d  from  any  connection 
with  mother  earth.  We  were  away  six  miles  as  the  crow 
flies,  and  yet  had  to  toss  our  heads  far  back  to  see  the  arch- 
ing summit-vapors  thin  out  and  melt  jnto  the  cold  blue  of 
impending  night.  No  sound  issued  from  the  bosom  of  the 
mountain,  and  only  back  of  us  could  we  hear  the  ocean's 
distant  roar,  and  above,  the  gentle  rustle  of  the  mango- 
leaves  as  they  dropped  their  still  lingering  crusts  of  ash. 
Could  it  be  that  this  wonderful,  almost  silent  nature  was 
the  same  that  but  a  few  days  before  had  wrought  one  of 
the  greatest  catastrophes  which  the  world's  history  records  ? 
As  I  watched  the  pensive  face  of  our  genial  hostess, 
Mile.  Marie,  who  looked  long  and  steadfastly  at  the  volcano, 
following  the  clouds  of  smoke  until  they  had  vanished  in 
the  blue  of  night,  I  noticed  an  air  of  sadness  come  over  it. 
She  too  had  lost  what  was  dearest  to  her  in  that  catastrophe. 
Yet,  with  a  faithful  allegiance  to  her  trust,  and  without 
counting  the  moments  of  danger  that  were  at  all  times  hers, 
she  remained  to  do  her  duty  to  the  Clerc  household,  and  to 
add  to  it  what  little  of  cheerful  comfort  could  still  be  had. 
The  house  stands,  shaded  by  its  great  rubber-trees,  aged  by 
a  hundred  and  fifty  years  and  more.  On  one  side  it  looks 
over  to  the  not  very  distant  ocean,  and  on  another  across  a 
deep  valley  which  falls  to  the  Riviere  Capot,  and  rises  be- 
yond to  the  slopes  of  Mont  Pelee.  Some  ragged  banana- 
leaves  rise  up  in  front  of  its  bounding  wall  and  there  are 
tall  and  stately  cocoanut-palms,  others  bowed  down  by 


150  ACKOSS   THE   ISLAND   TO   ASSIEE 

ash,  and  rows  of  the  graceful  filao  or  casuarina.  Bleating 
sheep  and  goats  gambol  about,  unmindful  of  the  storm  of 
life,  and  sleek  cattle  crop  the  herbage  that  still  remains  to 
them.  A  more  ideal  location  for  a  sojourn  could  hardly  be 
imagined,  and  we  thought  ourselves  more  than  fortunate  to 
have  been  invited  to  it.  The  Usine  Vive,  which  was  to 
furnish  the  mounts  for  our  further  journeys,  was  hardly  two 
miles  distant.  Its  position  of  near  proximity  to  Mont  Pelee, 
and  the  fact  that  it  lies  in  a  low  level  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Capot  River,  had  caused  it  to  be  temporarily  abandoned  for 
night  quarters,  and  a  more  congenial  location  was  found  at 
Assier.  It  was  only  four  days  before  our  coming,  on  the 
night  of  May  26,  that  Mont  Pelee  had  gone  through  a 
paroxysm  of  action  that  caused  more  than  one  mind  on  this 
side  of  the  mountain  to  waver,  and  to  ask  itself,  When  is 
the  time  ?  Its  extraordinary  electric  illumination  on  that 
night,  and  the  red  effulgence  that  glowed  through  the 
ascending  cloud,  appeared  to  indicate  a  new  storm,  and  it 
was  not  without  reason  that  people,  with  so  much  that  was 
already  back  of  them,  became  apprehensive  of  their  safety. 
It  was  then  that  the  decision  was  arrived  at  to  remove 
from  Vive.  That  same  evening  a  frightened  multitude  was 
hurrying  over  the  road  with  hardly  enough  of  night-light 
to  give  their  flight  a  course.  Men,  women  and  children, 
black  and  white,  on  foot,  on  horseback  and  in  wagon — all 
took  a  common  course,  to  leave  a  long  shadow  between 
them  and  the  volcano ;  and  Pelee  continued  to  hurl  out  its 
lightning  and  thunder. 


Photo.  Heilprin 


THE    EVENING   GLOW   ON    PELEE'S    PENNANT 
From  Assier 


X 

TO   THE   STORM-CLOUD   OF   PELfiE'S    CRATER 

THE  morning  of  May  31  was  chosen  for  the  ascent  of 
Mont  Pelee.  Our  friends  at  Assier  had  prepared  the  little 
that  was  needed  for  this  journey,  and  looked  after  our 
mounts,  which  we  obtained  at  Vive,  and  the  services  of 
three  Martinique  boys,  who  were  deputed  to  accompany  us. 
Disturbed  by  mosquitoes  and  the  anxiety  that  surrounded 
our  contemplated  journey,  we  had  put  in  a  somewhat  sleep- 
less night,  and  it  was  with  little  happiness  that  we  pro- 
ceeded to  carry  out  our  plan  of  attack.  The  heavy  rains 
of  the  day  before  had  blocked  our  effort  to  visit  the  Falaise, 
and  report  still  had  it  that  flood-waters  had  cut  the  road 
of  the  Capot.  How  much  more  the  volcano  was  account- 
able for  we  could  not  know. 

The  morning  broke  radiantly  clear,  and  we  felt  measur- 
ably encouraged  to  our  work.  Mont  Pelee,  with  its  miles 
of  towering  steam,  was  sharply  outlined  against  the  western 
sky,  and  seemed  to  look  peacefully  and  kindly  to  the  sun- 
lit landscape  that  surrounded  it.  It  was  puffing  only  white, 
and  there  were  no  wicked  yellow  and  black  clouds  to  tell  of 
its  wrath. 

We  were  on  our  way  shortly  before  six  o'clock.  The 
route  lay,  by  circles  and  zigzags,  westward,  crossing  the 
Riviere  Capot,  and  then  through  fields  of  cane  and  open 
meadow-land,  passing  the  village  of  Morne  Balai  with  its 

151 


152       TO   THE   STOKM-CLOUD   OF   PELEE'S   CEATEE 

clumps  of  cocoa-palms  and  bananas,  its  growths  of  cassava 
and  cane,  and  the  blood-red  hibiscus  flowers  scattered  over 
the  cement  and  thatching  that  now  hardly  knew  an  inhabi- 
tant. The  closed  door  told  of  the  flight  from  the  home- 
stead. 

A  little  after  nine  o'clock  we  emerged  upon  the  open 
slope  of  the  volcano,  at  an  elevation  of  perhaps  twenty-one 
hundred  feet  above  sea  level.  Ahead  of  us  a  long  ridge- 
line,  broadly  undulating  at  first  and  then  contracting  into  a 
fairly  narrow  arete,  travelled  almost  directly  westward  to 
the  summit  of  the  mountain.  Its  gray  and  desolate  surface, 
which  only  recently  had  been  beautifully  clothed  with  grass 
and  forest,  rose  from  us  at  an  angle  of  fifteen  to  twenty 
degrees,  gradually  becoming  steeper  as  it  neared  the  top, 
where  scoriae,  boulders  and  angular  fragments  of  ejected 
rock  took  the  place  of  the  ash  of  the  lower  slopes.  At  no 
point  did  the  gradient  exceed  thirty-five  degrees.  Travel- 
ling over  this  ridge  was  not  difficult,  and  we  rapidly  rose  to 
heights  which  commanded  charming  views  of  the  receding 
landscape,  the  blue  ocean  dashing  its  white  surf  against  the 
vertical  cliffs  of  the  coast,  the  muddy  Capot  and  its  out- 
flowing sweep  of  chocolate,  and,  in  the  dim  distance,  the 
Presqu'Ile  de  la  Caravelle.  On  either  side  of  us  was  a 
fairly  deep  ravine,  cut  by  the  tumultuous  waters  which 
sweep  down  the  mountain's  slope,  the  sides  hanging  with 
broken  and  desolated  gray  forest,  too  dead  to  be  sought  now 
by  the  few  birds  that  had  remained  in  the  region.  We 
looked  over  into  the  adjoining  chasm  of  the  Riviere  Falaise, 
hoping  to  locate  the  new  "  crater"  that  had  broken  out 


TO   THE   STOEM-CLOUD   OF   PELEE'S   CEATEE       153 

beneath  the  Trianon.  The  walls  stood  up  like  a  burnt  scar, 
but  there  was  peace  inside,  and  not  even  a  puff  of  vapor  in 
which  to  read  the  history  of  the  mud-torrent  that  the  day 
before  had  run  wild  through  the  lower  country. 

We  left  our  animals  in  charge  of  one  of  the  Martinique 
boys  at  an  elevation  of  about  two  thousand  two  hundred 
feet,  and  slowly  pushed  on  to  the  summit.  The  ascent  was 
an  easy  one,  even  if  fatiguing  at  times  to  the  heart  and 
lungs,  and  presented  nothing  more  difficult  than  the  long 
slopes  of  some  of  our  own  Appalachian  peaks.  The  course 
was  direct,  without  zigzags  of  any  kind  ;  and  had  it  not  been 
for  the  particular  conditions  which  existed  at  the  summit, 
the  "  climb"  would  have  been  without  color-incident  of  any 
kind.  As  it  was,  we  knew  only  inferentially  what  was 
taking  place  at  the  top,  and  were  even  in  doubt  as  to 
whether  the  summit  could  be  reached  at  all.  Up  to  this 
time  sky  and  weather  had  been  most  favorable,  but  the  bat- 
tered volcano  had  begun  to  gather  to  its  crown  the  island's 
mists,  and  its  own  clouds  hung  ominously  over  the  summit. 
In  a  short  half-hour  the  parting-line  between  the  land 
and  sky  had  been  blotted  out,  and  the  balance  of  our  ascent 
was  made  in  cloudland.  A  discomforting  rain  fell  upon  us, 
and  when  we  finally  reached  the  summit  of  the  mountain, 
shortly  before  eleven  o'clock,  the  weather  was  decidedly 
nasty.  My  aneroid  indicated  an  elevation  of  three  thousand 
nine  hundred  and  seventy-five  feet.  We  were  standing  on 
what  had  been  assumed  to  be  the  rim  of  the  old  crater,  on 
the  rim  of  the  basin  that  contained  the  Lac  des  Palmistes. 
Between  shifts  in  the  clouds  we  obtained  spectral  glimpses 


154       TO   THE   STOKM-CLOUD   OF   PELEE'S   CEATEK 

of  the  opposing  mornes  or  pitons,  their  ragged  lines  rising 
perhaps  two  hundred  feet  higher,  and  of  the  flat  basin  that 
stretched  off  to  their  bases.  But  of  the  lake  there  was 
nothing.  So  much  of  the  basin  as  we  could  see  was  abso- 
lutely dry,  its  floor  brought  up  to  a  nearly  uniform  level 
through  the  fragmental  discharges  from  the  volcano.  At 


Photo.  Heilprir 


ASH-CLOUD    OF    PELEE— FROM    NEAR    ASSIER 


the  point  where  we  reached  it  there  was  a  clearly  marked 
border  rising  two  to  three  feet  above  the  floor. 

It  was  evident  at  a  glance  that  the  old  "  crater,"  con- 
trary to  general  belief  and  scientific  report,  had  not  been 
blown  out.  It  remained  where  picnic  parties,  seeking  its 
beautiful  waters,  annually  found  it  to  be,  where  the  blue 


TO   THE   STOEM-CLOUD   OF   PELEE'S   CKATEE       155 

lobelia  adorned  its  banks,  and  where  dwarf  palms,  suc- 
ceeding to  luxuriant  forest,  told  the  land  of  the  tropical 
sun.  To-day  not  a  trace  of  vegetable  growth  remained, 
not  even  a  lichen  found  attachment  on  the  rough-surfaced 
rocks  that  broke  out  from  the  scoriated  floor.  This,  at 
least,  was  what  my  observation  told  me.  We  sought  in 
vain  the  position  of  the  vent  whence  issued  the  miles  of 
steam  and  ash  that  formed  the  spectacle  of  the  morning,  of 
the  evening  before,  and  of  every  day  since  the  eruption  of 
May  2.  It  should  have  been  near  to  us,  but  where  was 
it?  We  could  clearly  hear  the  rumbling  in  its  interior, 
the  grondement  of  continuing  work,  but  the  eye  failed  to 
penetrate  the  sea  of  clouds  that  enveloped  us,  and  made 
our  field  of  search  necessarily  limited.  Ordinarily  we 
could  see  but  a  score  of  yards  ahead,  and  frequently  not 
that  far,  and  in  the  tempest  that  swept  the  mountain  we 
dared  not  attempt  the  actual  exploration  of  the  summit. 

A  crash  of  thunder,  that  seemed  to  rend  the  very  heart 
of  the  mountain,  broke  the  storm  upon  us,  and  silenced 
all  other  sounds.  In  an  instant  more  a  second  crash,  and 
the  lightning  cut  frenzied  zigzags  across  the  blackened 
cloud-world  of  quivering  Pelee.  Then  a  third  and  a 
fourth,  and  the  pitons  rolled  the  echoes  to  one  another  like 
artillery  fire.  There  was  no  need  to  look  at  one  another — 
we  knew  that  we  were  in  a  storm-world  of  our  own.  What- 
ever was  taking  place,  was  being  acted  immediately  about 
us.  It  was  a  strange  sensation  this,  sitting  not  knowing 
exactly  where  and  having  as  an  unseen  neighbor  one  of  the 
mightiest  destroying  engines  of  the  globe.  The  rain  de- 


156       TO   TIIU   STORM-CLOUD   OF   PKL^E'S   CRATER 

scended  in  merciless  torrents,  and  the  lightning  cut  blind- 
ing flashes  about  us.  We  sat  bowed  over  our  instruments, 
to  give  them  partial  covering,  but  our  clothing,  so  far  as 
protection  to  ourselves  was  concerned,  might  almost  as  well 
have  been  in  the  sea.  We  hoped  for  a  change,  but  there 
was  none.  Our  boys  were  unhappy  and  trembling  in  fear 
of  the  volcano,  and  silent  tears  appealed  for  a  descent. 
They  knew  as  well  as  we  did  that  there  could  be  but  a 
short  interval  between  us  and  the  fiery  caldron,  and  they 
knew,  perhaps  better  than  we  did,  that  some  of  the  detona- 
tions which  we  had  preferably  referred  to  thunder  were  in 
reality  the  warning  notes  of  the  volcano.  Leadbeater  and  I 
were  not  yet  ready  for  the  descent.  That  for  which  we  had 
climbed  the  mountain  had  eluded  us,  and  yet  could  hardly 
be  more  than  a  stone's  throw  away.  We  knew  not  pre- 
cisely the  condition,  and  dared  not  search ;  but  we  thought 
that  a  favoring  gust  might  lift  the  clouds,  and  permit  us  to 
see  ahead.  It  did  not  come.  My  barometer  had  indicated 
no  gathering  storm,  no  more  than  did  the  barometer  of 
Saint  Pierre  during  the  eruptions  preceding  the  event  of 
May  8,  and  indicated  no  change  now.  The  compass  on  the 
crater  rim  showed,  however,  a  variation  of  from  thirty  de- 
grees to  forty  degrees  eastward,  the  north  needle  being 
turned  sharply  in  the  direction  of  Vive*. 

Three-quarters  of  an  hour  of  PeleVs  storm  was  suffi- 
cient. It  was  perhaps  the  most  trying  of  any  like  period 
that  I  had,  up  to  this  time,  experienced,  and  thinking  it 
useless  to  remain  longer  on  the  summit,  I  decided  upon  a 
retreat. 


TO  THE  STORM-CLOUD   OF  PELEES  CKATEU       157 

We  were  both  storm-beaten  and  mind-beaten.  A  day's 
effort  had  yielded  little  beyond  permitting  us  to  say  that 
we  had  reached  the  summit  of  the  mountain.  The  descent 
was  as  rapid  as  the  conditions  of  the  atmosphere  and  moun- 
tain would  permit,  but  it  was  not  easy  work.  The  deluge 
had  graven  uncomfortable  hollows  and  fissures  in  the  vol- 
cano's sides,  and  running  streams  of  mud  and  water  had 
taken  the  place  of  the  hard  slope  of  the  early  morning. 
There  was  no  longer  a  secure  foothold  anywhere,  and  it 
was  with  difficulty  that  we  kept  from  sliding  into  the  gorge 
that  lay  on  both  sides  of  us.  By  the  time  we  reached  our 
mules,  which  had  been  taken  to  a  lower  level  by  the  fright- 
ened attendant,  the  storm  had  partially  lifted,  and  to  our 
surprise,  looking  beneath  the  clouds,  we  found  the  Falaise, 
which  had  been  running  quietly  on  our  up-journey,  seeth- 
ing with  steam,  and  threading  its  course  to  the  Capot  and 
to  the  sea  in  a  long  train  of  curling  and  puffing  vapors. 
We  followed  with  our  eyes  the  circuit  of  the  steaming  river 
for  miles  across  the  still  fairly  green  country,  watching 
the  vapor  columns  as 'they  wildly  tossed  and  bowed,  but 
hearing  no  sounds  beyond  those  of  our  immediate  neigh- 
borhood. The  scene  was  an  extraordinary  one,  and  one 
that  could  only  be  compared  in  its  effect  to  a  chain  of  loco- 
motives steaming  in  line.  At  this  time  we  thought  that 
IVk'e  had  broken  out  on  the  side  turned  to  us,  and  was 

ugaging  its  mud  directly  into  the  trough  of  the  Falaise. 

Our  experience  on  the  narrowed  summit  of  Pelee 
during  this  first  ascent  was  so  novel  and  so  personal  in  its 
sensations  that  it  nly  natural  to  place  here  the  im- 


158       TO   THE   STOKM-CLOUD   OF   PELEE'S   CKATEE 

pressions  of  my  associate,  Mr.  Leadbeater,  as  he  has  re- 
corded them  elsewhere.  No  apology  is,  therefore,  necessary 
for  introducing  this  portion  of  his  graphic  narrative : 

When  we  reached  the  edge  of  the  old  crater,  at  an  elevation  of 
about  four  thousand  feet  (the  basin  that  had  contained  the  Lac  des 
Palmistes),  it  rained  in  torrents.  We  waited  about  fifteen  minutes, 
hoping  it  would  clear  up  and  enable  us  to  see  something.  Suddenly 
there  crashed  out  of  the  very  air  above  our  heads  a  cannonading  so 
terrific  that  the  mountain  seemed  to  quake  and  tremble  before  it. 
It  took  us  some  minutes  to  realize  that  it  was  a  peal  of  thunder. 
Then  it  commenced  to  thunder  and  lightning  incessantly,  and  the 
thunder  followed  so  quickly  after  the  lightning  that  they  seemed  to 
come  simultaneously.  The  awful  lightning  flashes  came  in  sheets  and 
bolts  of  fire  and  were  blinding  rather  than  illuminating.  Indeed,  the 
thunder  was  so  loud  that  we  could  feel  the  ground  heave,  as  it  were, 
under  us,  and  the  air  about  us  vibrate.  It  rained  so  hard  we  could 
not  see  ten  feet  away,  and  so  awed  were  we  by  the  thunder  and  light- 
ning, and  so  oppressed  by  the  hot,  sultry  atmosphere,  that  we  did  not 
know  but  that  we  were  being  overwhelmed  by  another  eruption.  I 
placed  my  camera  on  the  ground  and  lay  upon  it  to  keep  it  dry. 
But  it  rained  through  my  clothes,  and  it  must  have  penetrated  even 
through  my  body,  for  the  camera  was  soaked.  Those  frightful 
minutes  when  I  lay  on  the  ground  shielding  my  camera,  with  the 
rain  descending  in  perfect  floods  of  water — I  never  knew  it  could  rain 
as  it  did  then — with  the  appalling  thunder-charged  flashes  playing 
incessantly  about  me  and  the  very  air  quivering  with  the  rapidity  of 
the  detonations,  and  but  a  few  feet  away  the  seething,  sweltering 
crater  of  the  most  destructive  volcano  the  world  has  ever  seen,  will 
always  stand  out  in  my  memory  as  a  weird  and  horrible  dream.  At 
last  we  could  bear  it  no  longer,  and  started  to  come  down  the  moun- 
tain, following  our  tracks  as  best  we  could.  While  descending  the 
mountain  we  found  that  the  heavy  rains  had  washed  gorges  in  the 
mud-covering  of  the  mountain  two  to  three  feet  deep,  and  in  the 


TO   THE   STORM-CLOUD   OF   PELEE'S   CRATER       159 

blinding  rain  we  frequently  stopped  on  the  edge  of  one  of  these 
gullies,  which,  suddenly  giving  way,  caused  us  to  slip  and  slide  most 
of  the  way  down.  When  we  got  to  the  end  of  the  "  hogback,"  where 
we  left  the  mules,  they  and  their  keeper  had  gone.  We  found  them 
later  on  farther  down  the  mountain  standing  in  the  bright  sunshine. 

Our  day's  work,  while  giving  to  us  many  novel  and 
imperishable  sensations,  had  terminated  unsuccessfully. 
We  had  been  repulsed  by  the  volcano,  mudded  and 
drenched  in  a  way  that  severely  cautioned  us  in  any  further 
effort  not  to  inquire  too  closely  into  nature's  hidden  secrets. 
The  great  caldron  of  blowing  steam  and  ash  had  not  been 
reached,  or  even  seen,  although  we  could  hardly  have  been 
more  than  a  hundred  yards  from  its  border.  The  question 
still  remained,  where  and  how  was  it  ?  The  evening  wore 
off  quietly  as  that  of  the  preceding  day,  and  Pelee  once 
more  presented  itself  in  its  form  of  grand  and  unconquered 
magnificence.  I  studied  carefully  its  vast  steam-cloud,  with 
its  ominous  puffs  of  yellow  and  brown,  and  attempted  to 
locate  the  precise  position  of  its  emergence ;  but  what  we 
saw  this  evening,  we  had  seen  the  evening  before,  and  also 
on  the  evening  before  that.  The  lesson  still  remained  to 
be  learned,  and  I  determined  upon  another  ascent  for  the 
following  day. 

Kennan,  Jaccaci  and  Varian,  three  other  investigators 
of  the  phenomena  of  Mont  Pelee,  had  by  this  time  come  in 
from  Morne  Rouge,  and,  inspired  by  the  extraordinary 
workings  of  the  volcano  which  they  had  witnessed  there 
and  at  Vive,  had  also  determined  upon  an  ascent.  We 
joined  forces.  As  on  the  day  before,  the  mounts  were 


160       TO   THE   STOKM-CLOUD   OF   PELEE'S   CEATEK 

obtained  at  Vive,  which  also  furnished  the  somewhat  larger 
number  of  attendants  and  carriers  who  were  to  do  duty  for 
us.  We  left  the  latter  place  shortly  after  seven-thirty.  Our 
route,  except  in  some  narrowing  curves,  was  virtually  the 
same  that  we  had  travelled  the  day  before.  Once  past 
Morne  Balai,  we  followed  the  direct  course  to  the  eastern 
arete,  up  which  we  somewhat  laboriously  picked  our  way. 
The  ascent,  owing  to  the  still  soft  and  completely  rifted 
condition  of  the  surface  brought  about  by  the  heavy  rains, 
was  considerably  more  fatiguing  than  on  the  previous  day, 
but  reaching  the  summit  was  merely  "  a  pulling  away  at  it," 
with  plenty  of  stops  to  take  breath  and  ease  the  heart's 
action.  The  heat  of  the  open  sunlight  was,  however,  very 
trying,  and  it  was  intense  on  the  exposed  slope  of  cinder 
and  ash.  There  was  not  even  the  whisper  of  a  breeze. 
Mr.  Jaccaci  succumbed  to  an  early  attack  of  acute  dizziness 
or  vertigo,  and  was  obliged  to  abandon  the  ascent.  When 
we  came  up  to  the  old-crater  rim,  the  Lac  des  Palmistes, 
shortly  before  eleven  o'clock,  the  weather  and  mountain 
conditions  were  desperately  like  those  which  ushered  in  the 
storm  of  the  preceding  day.  The  aged  mountain  had  again 
buried  its  head  in  cloud  and  vapor,  and  growling  thunder 
reverberations  held  out  little  hope  that  we  should  be  able 
to  accomplish  more  than  we  had  already  done.  Of  the  dis- 
tant lowland  only  parting  patches  could  now  be  seen,  and 
before  long  even  these  were  blotted  out  by  mist  and  rain. 
On  the  top  it  was  all  cloudland,  and  with  squally  rains 
coming  and  going  in  quick  turns. 

We  caught  fleeting  glimpses  of  the  opposing  mornes 


A 

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II 

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I 


TO   THE   STOKM-CLOUD   OF   PELEE'S   CRATER       161 

that  rimmed  in  the  basin  at  its  farther  side,  but  as  yet  saw 
nothing  that  gave  more  than  a  feeble  indication  as  to  where 
might  be  the  line  of  the  working  crater.  My  aneroid  read- 
ing, without  correction  for  temperature,  gave  for  our  posi- 
tion— the  same  that  we  had  occupied  the  day  before — four 
thousand  and  twenty-five  feet,  which  satisfied  me  that  the 
old  level  of  the  mountain  had  been  maintained,  and  that 
there  had  been,  contrary  to  what  had  been  reported,  no 
subsidence  as  the  result  of  the  catastrophic  explosion  of  the 
8th.  It  is  true  that  the  piton  which  bore  the  cross  on  the 
Morne  de  La  Croix  had  tumbled  as  the  result  of  a  fracture, 
but  this  loss  to  the  mountain  of  perhaps  fifty  to  one  hun- 
dred feet  in  no  way  disturbed  the  general  aspect  or  mass 
of  the  volcano.  The  shallow  trough  of  the  former  Lac  is 
now  floored  with  angular  blocks  and  fragments  of  ancient 
volcanic  debris,  forming  part  of  the  former  stock  of  the 
volcano,  and  with  recently  ejected  scoriae,  lapilli  and  mud- 
ash.  These  built  up  the  outer  face,  for  three  hundred  feet 
or  more,  of  the  top  portion  of  the  main  cone.  I  took  the 
temperature  at  several  points  on  the  lake-floor  and  over  the 
rim  of  the  basin  and  found  it  to  be,  at  two  or  three  inches 
below  the  surface,  124°  to  130°  F. ;  at  one  point,  at  a  greater 
depth,  the  mercury  rose  to  162°.  It  was  evident  that  this 
high  temperature,  about  60°  above  that  of  the  air,  was 
merely  that  of  the  ejected  material  which  had  not  yet  had 
the  time  to  cool.  Puffs  of  steam  and  sulphur  vapor  were 
issuing  from  a  number  of  surface  vents,  and  from  beneath 
great  boulder  masses  whose  ragged  and  heated  surfaces  were 

scarred  with  yellow  sulphur  blotches,  and  gave  evidence  of 

11 


162       TO   THE   STOBM-CLOUD   OF   PELEE'S   CRATER 

having  only  recently  been  hurled  to  their  places  from  the 
volcano's  mouth. 

We  waited  patiently  for  a  lifting  of  the  clouds,  and  it 
came  at  last.  Below  the  mountain's  clouds  we  could  clearly 
mark  out  the  ascending  column  of  steam,  with  its  flocculent 
whorls  rolling  in  upon  themselves  and  upward.  The  posi- 
tion of  the  crater  had  been  located,  but  alas !  it  was  for 
hardly  more  than  an  instant.  The  scene  had  shifted  and 
disappeared.  We  were  once  more  in  cloudland,  waiting 
and  hoping,  with  our  Martinique  boys  impatient  of  their 
assumed  trials. 

An  angry  cold  wind  was  now  swirling  around  both  sides 
of  the  .mountain,  and  with  it  came  a  seemingly  hopeless 
rain.  All  of  a  sudden  a  gust  cleared  the  summit,  and  a 
white  sunlight  illumined  the  near  horizon.  It  seemed 
hardly  more  than  three  hundred  feet  from  us.  Across  the 
steaming  lake-bed,  little  mindful  of  its  puffs  of  vapor  and 
sulphur,  we  dashed  to  the  line  above  which  welled  out  the 
steam-cloud  of  the  volcano,  and  almost  in  an  instant  stood 
upon  the  rim  of  the  giant  rift  in  whose  interior  the  world 
was  being  made  in  miniature.  We  had  reached  our  point. 
We  were  four  feet,  perhaps  less,  from  a  point  whence  a 
plummet  could  be  dropped  into  the  seething  furnace,  witness- 
ing a  scene  of  terrorizing  grandeur  which  can  be  conceived 
only  by  the  very  few  who  have  observed  similar  scenes 
elsewhere.  Momentary  flashes  of  light  permitted  us  to 
see  far  into  the  tempest- tossed  caldron,  but  at  no  time  was 
the  floor  visible,  for  over  it  rolled  the  vapors  that  rose  out 
to  mountain  heights.  With  almost  lightning  speed  they 


TO   THE   STOEM-CLOUD   OF   PELEE'S   CEATEE       163 

were  shot  out  into  space,  to  be  lost  almost  as  soon  as  they 
had  appeared.  Facing  us,  at  a  distance  of  seemingly  not 
more  than  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet,  danced  the  walls  of 
what  appeared  to  be  the  opposing  face  of  the  crater,  and 
somewhat  nearer  the  ragged  white  rocks,  burnt-out  cinder 
masses,  whose  brilliant  incandescence  flashed  out  like 


Photo.  Heilprin 


A    BURST   FROM    THE    CRATER 


beacon-lights  some  days  after  the  fatal  8th,  and  even  at 
our  later  day  illumined  the  night-crown  of  the  volcano 
with  a  glow  of  fire.  We  could  not  tell  at  the  time  if  they 
were  part  of  a  cinder-cone,  or  merely  an  accumulated  heap 
that  had  been  piled  upon  itself.  The  spectacle  was  a  stu- 
pendous one, — like  a  wild  tempest  raging  everywhere.  We 


164       TO   THE   STOKM-CLOUD   OF   PELEE'S   CEATEK 

stood  silent,  overawed  in  its  presence.  The  ground  trembled 
at  times,  but  never  with  any  degree  of  force.  We  felt  no 
inconvenience  from  either  gas  or  steam.  A  low  rumbling 
detonation,  broken  at  intervals  by  louder  bursts,  crept  about 
the  hidden  floor  of  the  interior,  from  which  also  issued  the 
sounds  of  clinking,  falling  and  sliding  cinders,  the  hissing 
of  the  emerging  steam — sounds  which  one  would  fain  de- 
scribe were  it  possible  to  do  so.  I  tried  so  far  as  it  was 
possible  to  localize  the  issuing  sounds,  but  the  "blanket- 
ing" by  the  enormous  masses  of  swirling  steam  prevented 
this ;  everything  seemed  to  come  from  everywhere,  with 
no  marked  accentuation  in  any  particular  quarter.  Occa- 
sional gusts  of  wind  cleared  the  foreground,  and  displayed 
the  giant  smoke-column  in  grand  magnificence. 

Our  Martinique  boys  appeared  to  be  as  much  impressed 
by  the  scene  as  we  ourselves  were,  and  for  a  time  lost  all 
fear  of  the  awakening  dragon.  We  found  that  we  were 
standing  on  the  edge  of  a  vertical,  perhaps  even  overhang- 
ing, cliff,  and  not  feeling  disposed  to  remain  longer  than 
was  necessary  to  make  note-book  observations  and  take  pho- 
tographic views,  left  rather  precipitately  for  lower  regions. 

I  felt  that  finally  I  had  stood  over  nature's  great  labora- 
tory, and  been  permitted  to  study  some  of  its  workings. 
Many  years  before  on  Vesuvius  I  had  gazed  into  the  crater 
funnel,  and  watched  the  molten  magma  of  the  earth  rise 
and  fall,  but  the  scene  was  one  that  could  not  compare 
with  this,  grand  and  inspiring  though  it  was.  I  attempted 
to  locate  the  axis  of  the  vent  as  nearly  as  the  direction  of 
the  largely-obscured  walls  and  the  position  of  the  basin  of 


TO  THE   STOKM-GLOUD   OF  PELEE'S   CEATEE       165 

the  Lac  des  Palmistes  permitted,  which  was  north  to  south, 
slightly  southwest.  The  magnetic  needle,  which  showed 
such  a  marked  deflection  on  the  border  of  the  lake-basin, 
was  normal  or  nearly  so.  The  form  of  the  crater  was  at 
this  time  that  of  a  caldron-rift,  pitching  steeply  downward, 
and  opening  in  a  direction  a  little  off  from  the  line  to  Saint 
Pierre.  The  length  could  be  only  roughly  approximated, 
and  at  no  time  could  we  positively  ascertain  the  extreme 
boundaries.  There  can  be  no  question  that  it  traversed  the 
position  of  the  narrow  rift  known  as  the  Fente,  or  the  Terre 
Fcndue,  which  had  been  a  feature  of  the  mountain  since  the 
eruption  of  1851,  perhaps  considerably  preceding  that  event 
in  its  existence. 

The  fact  that,  standing  on  the  rim  of  so  active  a  crater, 
we  were  not  inconvenienced  by  any  marked  excess  of  tem- 
perature seems  rather  remarkable,  and  might  be  thought 
to  find  its  explanation  in  the  very  rapidly  ascending  masses 
of  steam — the  condition  of  continuous  atmospheric  dis- 
placements which  it  brought  about.  But  even  these  were 
little  appreciable  where  we  stood,  which  was  more  like  a 
region  of  almost  absolute  calm,  despite  the  storm  that  raged 
in  its  centre,  than  one  of  flickering  disturbance. 


XI 
THE   GEOGKAPHY   OF   MONT  PELfiE 

MONT  PELEE,  or  more  properly,  Montagne  Pelee,  which, 
prior  to  the  eruption  of  May  8,  was  barely  known  beyond 
its  own  little  territory,  occupies  with  its  contreforts  nearly 
the  whole  northern  section  of  the  island  of  Martinique.  Its 
humble  height,  hardly  equalling  that  of  famous  Ben  Nevis 
of  the  Scottish  Highlands,  does  not  permit  it  to  loom  up 
lofty,  but  it  holds  it  crown  veiled  in  mist  during  the  greater 
part  of  the  day. 

The  volcano  derives  its  appellation  of  "  bald  mountain" 
from  a  bare  spot  which  it  carried  about  its  crown  at  the 
time  when  it  was  first  described  by  Dutertre  in  (about) 
1640;  and  inferentially  this  characteristic  is  reviewed  by 
Father  Labat,  who  in  his  "  Nouveau  Voyage  aux  Isles  de 
VAmerique"  (the  Hague,  1724)  refers  to  himself  as  the 
"pere  (or  Mont)  pele"  (bald  father).  Just  where  or  how 
this  bald  spot  on  the  volcano  was  located  cannot  at  this 
time  be  determined,  for  it  is  certain  that  in  the  past,  as  well 
as  in  the  recent  present,  the  mountain  was  covered  with  a 
luxuriant  vegetation  quite  to  its  summit;  and  I  am  in- 
formed that  even  the  precipitous  face  of  the  Morne  de  La 
Croix  was  similarly  garnished.  Felix  Lombard,  in  his 
paper  "  La  Martinique  et  les  Erreurs  des  Geographes"* 

*  Revue  Scientifique,  August  9,  1884. 
166 


THE  GEOGBAPHY  OF  MONT  PELEE       167 

dwells  emphatically  upon  this  characteristic  of  the  moun- 
tain, and  asserts  that  at  the  time  of  his  writing  the  volcano 
was  visible  in  its  full  extent,  and  entirely  covered  with 
most  vigorous  green  (vert  le  plus  vigoureux) . 

The  "grands  bois,"  or  what  have  frequently  been  re- 
ferred to  by  writers  as  the  forest  primeval,  with  all  the 
wealth  and  luxuriance  of  vegetation  that  a  tropical  nature 
can  supply,  were  the  glory  of  the  mountain.  MM.  Lep- 
rieur,  Peyraud  and  Rufz,  who  composed  the  scientific  com- 
mission that  investigated  the  eruption  of  August,  1851, 
speak  in  their  report  of  the  magnificent  woodlands  of  Bro- 
melia,  Melastome  and  Gay  Lussacia  that  they  were  obliged 
to  traverse,  and  which  only  thinned  off  to  lighter  woods 
near  the  summit.  Hearn  describes  the  same  forest  forty 
years  later,  and  refers  rapturously  to  the  beauties  and  fasci- 
nation of  the  tangled  mazes  which  held  one  at  almost  every 
step.  Even  so  late  as  the  closing  days  of  April  of  the 
present  year  the  woodland  was  in  nearly  its  full  magnifi- 
cence. Little  or  nothing  remains  of  all  this  on  the  sides 
where  the  outflows  took  place,  and  it  is  astonishing  how 
completely  the  traces  of  the  vegetable  growth  have  feeen  ex- 
tinguished. Mont  Pelee  shows  up  from  the  west  and  south- 
west naked  as  though  it  had  never  known  a  cover.  But  far 
beyond  the  line  of  absolute  destruction,  the  tree-growth  has 
been  crippled,  grayed  and  laid  to  low  measure  by  the  ash 
that  has  fallen  upon  it.  On  the  eastern  face  of  the  moun- 
tain the  zone  of  destruction,  previous  to  the  great  eruption 
of  August  30,  covered  only  the  middle  and  upper  slopes ; 
and  the  forest,  though  battered  and  burned,  remained  stand- 


168  THE   GEOGKAPHY   OF  MONT  PELEE 

ing  in  part.  To-day  this  has  also  passed,  and  the  slopes  lie 
bared  as  on  the  side  turned  to  Saint  Pierre.  Three  days 
before  the  August  eruption  I  noted  the  cindered  forest  of 
the  Falaise  gorge,  at  an  elevation  of  from  seventeen  hundred 
to  eighteen  hundred  feet,  returning  to  life,  with  brilliant 
greens  decking  the  new  crowns.  The  revivifying  tree-ferns 
were  especially  beautiful.  New  life  was  also  beginning  to 
clothe  the  ridge-sands  of  the  Rivieres  des  Peres  and  Seche 
on  the  southwest.  All  of  this  has  disappeared — most  of  it 
extinguished  absolutely.  Of  the  growth  of  palms  at  the 
summit  of  the  mountain,  and  the  clumps  of  fern  and  lobelia 
that  in  the  early  part  of  the  year  delighted  the  visitor  to 
the  Lac  des  Palmistes,  not  a  vestige  remains — nothing  to 
indicate  that  such,  or  other,  vegetable  growths  could  ever 
have  existed. 

The  summit  of  Mont  Pelee,  which  commands  a  superb 
view  of  the  island  and  of  its  surrounding  ocean,  was  prior 
to  the  May  eruption  constructed  in  greater  part  of  a  small 
lake-basin  and  of  a  line  of  bounding  heights  lying  on  its 
western  and  northern  sides.  The  highest  of  these,  which 
bore  the  cross  *  that  was  placed  upon  it  by  the  late  Pere 
Mary,  was  the  Morne  de  La  Croix,  whose  height  is  roughly 
assumed  to  have  been  two  hundred  and  fifty  or  three  hun- 
dred feet.  Its  elevation  above  the  sea  is  generally  stated  to 
have  been  four  thousand  four  hundred  and  twenty-eight 
feet,  which  is  the  measurement  of  Dupuget15  in  1796 ;  but 
the  determinations  of  the  scientific  commission  of  1851  give 

*  Replacing  the  more  ancient  one. 


Photo.  Heilprin 


ON    THE    VOLCANO'S    DEVASTATED    SLOPE 


THE  GEOGKAPHY  OF  MONT  PELEE       169 

for  the  full  height  of  the  volcano  only  four  thousand  one 
hundred  and  ninety  feet  (twelve  hundred  and  seventy- 
seven  metres),  which  conforms  closely  to  my  own  baro- 
metric values,  and,  I  believe,  more  nearly  represents  the 
true  altitude. 

The  lake  itself  was  a  shallow  pan  of  water  whose  sur- 
face lay  but  little  below  the  bounding  lip  of  the  basin  on 
the  eastern  side.  Leprieur,  Peyraud  and  Rufz,  who  visited 
it  in  1851,  immediately  after  the  eruption  of  that  year, 
describe  it  as  being  about  three  hundred  paces  in  cir- 
cumference, and  resting  on  a  floor  of  mud  and  pumice 
fragments.  Their  estimate  is,  I  believe,  an  approximately 
correct  one,  although  the  lake  is  sometimes  described  as 
having  been  very  much  larger.  Beyond  the  position  that 
it  occupies,  there  is  little  to  suggest  for  it  the  nature  of  a 
crater-lake,  which  it  is  very  generally  assumed  to  be,  and  it 
may  be  reasonably  questioned  whether  it  had  this  structure. 
Labat  refers  to  this  summit  lake  in  his  work  published  in 
1722  (1724),  but  it  would  seem  that  its  crateral  origin  was 
assumed  only  after  the  publication  by  Jonnes  of  his  paper 
"Explorations  Geologiques  et  Miner  alogiques  du  Volcan 
eteint  de  la  Montague  Pelee"  *  The  reference  to  the  lake 
is,  however,  not  very  clear ;  and  the  statement  that  the 
"  great  crater  is  now  converted  into  a  lake"  (translation) 
may  very  properly  refer  to  the  crater  on  the  southwest  side 

*  Bulletin  Societe  Philomatique  de  Paris,  1820,  p.  8.  Pelee  was 
ascended  by  La  Condamine,  who  also  made  a  measurement  of  the 
mountain,  but  I  have  been  unable  to  obtain  the  record  of  observations 
made  on  this  visit. 


170  THE   GEOGRAPHY   OF   MONT   PELEE 

and  to  the  Etang  Sec.  Jonnes  could  hardly  have  referred 
to  the  summit  lake  as  occupying  a  large  crater.16 

At  the  time  of  my  visit,  this  attractive  mountain  tarn, 
which  for  many  years  had  been  the  central  point  to  pic- 
nicking parties  of  an  extensive  region  around,  and  to  which 
an  excursion  had  been  planned  in  Saint  Pierre  for  the  4th 
of  May,  had  disappeared,  and  no  trace  of  the  waters  re- 
mained. The  basin  itself  had  been  largely  filled  in  with 
matter  ejected  from  the  volcano,  so  that  the  floor  lay  only 
from  two  to  three  feet  below  the  rim  on  the  eastern  side. 
The  floor  was  still  steaming  over  most  of  its  part,  and  it 
gave  out  a  peculiar  "  steamed"  odor  of  mineral  oil.  I  esti- 
mated the  distance  across  the  basin  to  the  foot  of  the  Morne 
de  La  Croix  to  be  about  three  hundred  feet.  In  just  what 
manner  the  lake- water  was  thrown  off  as  the  result  of  the 
first  eruption  cannot  be  known ;  but  it  is  reasonable  to 
assume  that  the  greater  part  of  it  may  have  been  steamed 
off  by  the  heated  ejecta  that  were  thrown  into  it.  There 
is  nothing  to  support  the  view  that  it  was  in  any  way 
sucked  into  the  crater  and  became  a  determining  factor  in 
the  explosion.  The  lake-basin  remains  intact,  and  has 
undergone  no  changes  beyond  that  of  infilling. 

Of  the  ejecta  covering  the  lake-floor  the  greater  part  was 
at  the  time  of  my  first  visit  constituted  of  mud-ash  and 
angular  blocks  or  fragments  of  andesite,  trachyte  (?)  and 
diorite,  with  here  and  there  scattered  boulders  and 
"  bombs"  of  large  size  and  composite  character,  and  rep- 
resenting the  ancient  stock  of  the  volcano.  Some  of  these 
were  coated  with  sulphur  crusts,  and  others  with  iron- 


THE  GEOGEAPHY  OF  MONT  PELEE       171 

chloride.  Steam  was  issuing  vigorously  from  their  sur- 
faces, and  equally  so  from  the  general  floor  of  the  lake- 
basin.  In  crossing  the  basin  we  were  obliged  to  thread 
our  way  carefully  between  these  steam-jets,  which  were 
still  numerous,  especially  towards  the  side  of  the  crater. 
My  thermometer,  thrust  two  and  three  inches  beneath 
the  surface,  gave  a  temperature  of  from  one  hundred 


Photo.  Heilprin 

BASIN    OF   THE    LAC    DES    PALMISTES   AND  THE   SHATTERED 
MORNE   DE   LA  CROIX 

and  twenty-four  to  one  hundred  and  thirty-two  degrees, 
and  at  a  somewhat  deeper  point,  one  hundred  and  sixty- 
three  degrees.  At  the  time  of  my  last  visit  to  the  Lac 
des  Palmistes,  August  30,  the  summit  of  the  volcano  was 
so  completely  shrouded  in  clouds,  steam  and  ash  that  it 
was  impossible  to  make  topographic  observations  of  any 
kind ;  nor,  indeed,  in  the  face  of  the  raking  fire  of  bombs, 
did  I  feel  disposed  to  penetrate  beyond  the  crest  of  the 


172  THE   GEOGKAPHY   OF   MONT   PELEE 

mountain.  The  changes  that  may  have  taken  place  on  this 
little  plateau-summit  as  the  result  of  the  more  recent  ac- 
tivities of  the  volcano  are,  therefore,  unknown  to  me ;  but 
so  far  as  I  could  judge  of  them  from  a  distance,  they  could 
not  have  been  very  marked. 

The  plateau-summit  of  the  volcano,  which  is  thus  partly 
occupied  by  the  basin  of  the  Lac  des  Palmistes,  slopes  off 
southward  in  the  direction  of  Morne  Rouge,  and  "  spills"  off 
on  the  east  and  southeast  in  a  gradual  coalescence  with  the 
outer  slopes  of  the  mountain.  On  the  southwest,  where  it 
falls  in  with  the  crest  of  the  crater,  there  is  a  rise  of  a  few 
yards,  and  then  follows  the  plunging  wall  of  the  crater. 
The  westerly  (or  crater)  wall  of  the  Morne  de  La  Croix 
drops  into  the  basin  of  the  Etang  Sec  at  an  angle  (in  its 
upper  pafcrt)  of  hardly  less  than  seventy  degrees — a  pic,  to 
use  the  expression  of  French  investigators.  How  much 
of  the  Morne  de  La  Croix  has  fallen,  no  one  positively 
knows ;  but  it  is  certain,  as  could  easily  be  determined  by 
a  comparison  of  contours,  that  not  nearly  so  much  of  it 
disappeared  in  the  early  weeks  following  the  eruption  of 
May  8  as  was  generally  supposed.  I  should  rather  believe 
that  its  height  was  lessened  only  by  from  fifty  to  seventy 
feet,  instead  of  the  one  hundred  and  fifty  as  claimed.  The 
fall  of  the  piton  itself — i.e.,  of  the  pinnacle  surmounting 
the  Morne — seems  to  have  been  finally  accomplished  on 
May  24,  as  is  published  in  L*  Opinion  of  Fort-de-France, 
in  despatches  from  Morne  Capot,  as  follows  :  one-twenty 
P.M.,  "  Autre  fragment  Piton  s'est  ecroule  ;"  and  eight  P.M., 
" Piton  disparu  completement" 


THE   GEOGBAPHY   OF   MONT   PELEE  173 

Mont  Pelee  has  not  the  conical  outline  of  the  typical 
volcano,  but  is  elongated  on  a  northwest  and  southeast  axis, 
with  the  highest  point  lying  in  the  northwest.  It  is  plain 
to  see  in  this  direction  that  it  is  only  part  of  a  former 
larger  mountain,  whose  buttressed  masses  lie  still  farther 
to  the  north,  and  of  which  the  Morne  Siberie  and  the 
Piton  Pierreux,  the  latter  nearly  two  thousand  feet  in  ele- 
vation, are  still  prominent  relics.  The  sea  face  is  on  this 
side  abrupt  and  precipitous,  presenting  ragged  bluffs  and 
promontories,  with  some  detached  islands  and  island  points. 
Standing  off  some  little  distance  from  this  side  of  the 
coast,  the  spectator  obtains  the  only  symmetrically  con- 
toured outline  of  the  volcano,  and  notes  the  majestic  extent 
of  its  great  flanks  as  they  sweep  over  the  whole  forefoot  of 
the  island.  The  gently  falling  slopes  to  the  interior,  being 
usually  free  of  complication  and  rising  with  low  gradients 
of  from  fifteen  to  twenty-five  degrees,  are  exceedingly 
pleasing  to  the  eye,  and  conform  to  the  picture  of  many  of 
the  other  volcanic  mountains  of  the  Lesser  Antilles.  To- 
wards the  southeast,  Pelee  sends  out  a  long  ridge  to  unite 
with  the  mass  of  the  Pitons  de  Carbet,  the  point  of  second 
elevation  in  the  land  (three  thousand  nine  hundred  and 
sixty  feet),  and  thus  builds  out,  with  the  peaks  of  Carbet 
and  their  long  slopes,  nearly  the  whole  mountain  relief  of 
two-thirds  of  the  island  of  Martinique.  The  volcano  itself 
covers  a  surface  area  of  about  fifty  square  miles. 

The  singular  manner  in  which  the  mountain  has  been 
cut  up  into  ridge-backs  and  deeply  separating  water-ways, 
all  radiating  from  almost  the  exact  centre  of  the  volcano, 


174  THE   GEOGKAPHY   OF   MONT   PELEE 

may  liken  it  to  a  many-rayed  elevated  star.  Some  of 
these  ridge-backs  are  sharp  enough  to  permit  them  to  be 
called  aretes,  and  they  fall  off  rapidly  into  the  troughs  that 
lie  on  either  side.  Streams  of  various  degrees  of  strength 
occupy  these  troughs,  and  in  nearly  all  cases  have  indi- 
vidual courses  directed  to  the  sea.  On  the  east  side  alone 
are  they  tributary  to  a  major  water,  the  Riviere  Capot, 
which  rises  in  a  fairly  deep  basin  several  miles  to  the  east- 
ward of  Saint  Pierre,  and  defines  approximately  the  eastern 
boundary  of  the  region  that  is  dominated  by  the  volcano. 
All  of  these  streams,  with  the  exception  of  the  Capot,  have 
courses  of  not  more  than  four  or  five  miles  in  a  direct  line, 
but  despite  this  condition  many  have  proved  wildly  destruc- 
tive during  periods  of  heavy  rains.  More  than  one  settle- 
ment keeps  in  sad  memory  the  picture  of  ruin  which  water 
and  rock  have  wrought.  Basse-Pointe  and  Precheur,  with 
their  acres  of  giant  rocks,  their  canoned  streets  and  battered 
walls,  read  impressively  this  side  chapter  from  the  history 
of  Mont  Pelee.  I  determined  the  height  of  the  flood-water 
of  the  Falaise,  at  its  confluence  with  the  Capot,  to  have  been 
at  least  thirty-five  feet  above  the  normal  level  of  the  two 
streams.  The  extended  flood-plain  is  at  this  point  covered 
with  giant  boulders,  many  of  them  five  feet  and  more  in 
diameter,  and  all  of  them  rounded  as  though  they  had 
travelled  for  many  miles.  I  measured  some  exceptional 
blocks  that  were  from  eight  to  twelve  feet  in  length.  All 
the  masses  were  volcanic, — basalts,  andesites,  trachytes, 
pumice,  etc., — and  represented  the  old  stock  of  the  volcano 
or  of  its  predecessor.  Their  perfectly  rounded  and  planed 


THE   GEOGEAPHY   OF  MONT   PELEE  175 

forms,  which  were  unmistakably  not  due  to  weathering  or  to 
internal  disintegration,  suggest  for  them  a  possible  oceanic 
location,  placed  high  on  the  slopes  of  the  volcano  as  the 
result  of  land-elevation.  They  seem  to  be  more  than  the 
simple  surface  deposit  of  earlier  eruptions.  The  condition 
of  the  Falaise  was  similar  to  that  which  we  observed  in  the 
case  of  the  streams  of  Precheur  and  Basse- Pointe. 

Not  less  than  twenty-five  streams,  about  one-half  of 
which  have  been  dignified  with  the  name  of  Riviere,  radiate 
from  the  slopes  of  Pelee,  and  the  greater  number  of  these 
occupy  deep  ravines  or  well-defined  Thalwegs.  The  most 
important  of  those  flowing  to  the  northern  side  of  the  island 
are  the  Grande  Riviere,  the  Riviere  Macouba,  and  the 
Falaise. 

The  Precheur,  on  the  west,  is  responsible  for  the  de- 
struction, on  the  6th  and  7th  of  May,  of  the  village  of 
the  same  name,  situated  near  its  mouth.  Farther  south  are 
the  Blanche,  Seche,  and  Riviere  des  Peres,  the  last-named 
limiting  Saint  Pierre  on  its  farther  side,  and  separating 
it  from  the  faubourg  of  Fonds-Core.  The  Roxelane  alone 
of  PeleVs  waters  entered  Saint  Pierre.  Built  up  in  part 
with  walls,  and  surmounted  by  attractive  gardens  and  villas, 
it  formed  perhaps  the  most  picturesque  feature  of  the 
city. 

Of  all  these  various  waters,  the  Riviere  Blanche,  by 
reason  of  its  close  association  with  the  crater  of  the  volcano, 
has  become  the  most  noted  in  the  later  history  of  Mont 
Pelee.  It  was  into  the  channel  of  this  stream  that  the 
boiling  mud  from  the  Etang  Sec,  which  wrecked  the  Usine 


176       THE  GEOGKAPHY  OF  MONT  PELEE 

Guerin  on  May  5,  and  brought  the  first  casualties  of  the 
eruption,  was  precipitated.  In  its  upper  part,  and  just 
below  the  crater-basin,  its  course  is  directed  through  a 
narrow  and  deeply-incised  ravine,  with  steeply-sloping  walls, 
the  abrupt  contours  of  which,  so  far  as  the  facts  given  to  me 
indicate,  were  fashioned  subsequent  to  the  events  of  early 
May.  This  whole  slope  of  the  volcano,  which  is  ragged 
and  torn  through  many  eruptions,  is  wildly  terrifying  in 
aspect,  and  much  of  it  is  sprinkled  with  boulders  which 
have  latterly  been  shot  out  from  the  forming  cone,  or  rolled 
down  on  its  outer  face. 

The  great  feature  of  Mont  Pelee  that  has  been  accent- 
uated as  the  result  of  its  recent  activities  is  the  crater,  whose 
caldron  lies  southwest  and  west  of  the  summit  of  the  moun- 
tain, and  rises  up  directly  under  the  lee  of  the  Morne  de  La 
Croix.  The  steep  face  of  the  Morne  plunges  into  it  at  an 
angle  of  seventy  degrees  or  more.  The  feature  is  not  an 
entirely  new  one,  as  it  is  clear  from  the  topographic  descrip- 
tion of  the  region  given  by  the  commission  of  1851,  and 
from  observation  made  just  before  the  main  cataclysm  of 
this  year,  that  a  soufriere  or  crater-basin  existed  on  the  site 
of  the  present  one  already  at  the  time  of  its  earlier  erup- 
tion. This  is  the  basin  of  the  Etang  Sec,  situated  as  nearly 
as  I  can  state  it  from  an  approximate  eye-measurement 
taken  at  an  elevation  of  sixteen  hundred  feet,  and  from  the 
observations  of  others,  about  twenty-four  hundred  to  twenty- 
six  hundred  feet  high  on  the  southwestern  slope  of  the 
mountain,  and  consequently  from  fifteen  hundred  to  sixteen 
hundred  feet  below  the  lowest  part  of  the  rim  of  the  crater- 


THE   GEOGRAPHY   OF   MONT   PELEE  177 

wall  on  the  east  side  (the  plateau  surface  of  the  Lac  des 
Palmistes). 

The  altered  condition  of  the  mountain,  combined  with 
the  vagueness  of  past  descriptions,  has  made  it  difficult  to 
recognize  the  exact  topographic  features  as  they  had  been 
previously  determined,  and  which  appear  to  have  been 
known  to  the  inhabitants  of  Saint  Pierre  and  of  the  imme- 
diate surroundings  almost  alone.*  Hence  many  errors  have 
crept  into  the  descriptions  that  have  already  been  given. 
It  was  my  good  fortune  to  have  with  me  as  companion  on 
my  partial  ascent  of  the  volcano  on  August  24  one  who  was 
thoroughly  familiar  with  the  old  mountain,  and  could  with- 
out hesitation  locate  the  main  features  in  a  comparison  with 
the  old  topography.  From  our  point  of  observation  at  the 
head  of  the  arete  which  abuts  against  the  caldron  that 
contains  the  source  of  the  Riviere  Seche,  at  an  elevation  of 
sixteen  hundred  feet,  and  directly  in  face  of  the  mouth  of 
the  old  crater,  we  had  a  clear  view  of  the  summit  of  the 
mountain,  of  the  great  central  cone,  and  of  the  deep  gorge 
of  the  Riviere  Blanche,  where  it  issues  from  below  the 
lower  lip  of  the  crater.  The  relations  of  all  the  different 
parts  were  thus  made  clear  to  us. 

The  most  accurate  description  of  the  crater  that  has  been 

*  The  lack  of  precise  knowledge  regarding  the  points  of  Mont 
Pelee  is  well  shown  by  the  narrative  of  the  "  guide,"  Julien  Eomain, 
contained  in  Les  Colonies  in  the  issue  of  May  5,  which  places  the 
Morne  de  La  Croix  on  the  western  side  of  the  crater-basin,  and  the 
Etang  Plein  (Lac  des  Palmistes)  still  farther  west  of  the  Morne  de  La 
Croix ! 

12 


178  THE   GEOGRAPHY   OF  MONT  PELEE 

published,  so  far  as  I  know,  is  that  of  Dr.  E.  O.  Hovey, 
contained  in  his  Preliminary  Report  on  the  Martinique 
and  St.  Vincent  Eruptions,  and  which  appears  in  the  Bulle- 
tin of  the  American  Museum  of  Natural  History  (October 
11,  1902).  The  author  there  correctly  recognizes  a  circum- 
valent  rising  valley  partially  surrounding  a  central  or  sub- 
central  active  cone  of  cinders,  and  bounded  on  all  sides 
from  the  southeast  to  the  northwest  by  high  and  precipitous 
walls,  composed  of  ancient  tuff-agglomerates  and  lava-beds, 
which  culminate  in  the  impending  andesitic  mass  of  the 
Morne  de  La  Croix.  This  great  encircling  wall,  which  falls 
on  the  southwest  to  an  elevation  of  about  thirty-two  hun- 
dred feet,  and  in  some  parts  is  retained  as  an  acutely  narrow 
ridge,  reminding  me  forcibly  of  the  encircling  wall  of  the 
Nevado  de  Toluca,  in  Mexico,  is  perhaps  a  little  more  than 
a  mile  in  length.  Dr.  Hovey  estimated  the  width  of  the 
entire  basin  at  its  summit  to  be  about  half  a  mile,  which,  I 
believe,  cannot  be  far  from  the  truth,  and  agrees  well  with 
the  earlier  measurements  that  had  been  made  for  the  cuvette 
of  the  Etang  Sec.  When  I  first  reached  the  rim  of  the 
crater  on  June  1  the  opposing  wall  appeared  to  be  only  a 
few  hundred  feet  distant,  but  we  could  not  at  that  time, 
owing  to  the  surcharging  of  the  crater  with  steam  and  ash, 
recognize  that  this  wall  was  part  of  a  central  cone.  The 
steam-cloud  was  rising  in  vast  swirls  from  the  eastern 
floor  of  the  caldron,  and  obscured  everything  (excepting  in 
fleeting  vistas)  but  the  immediate  foreground. 

The  crater  pitches  steeply  downward  from  the  northeast 
to  the  southwest,  conformably  with  the  line  of  its  axis.     Its 


THE   GEOGRAPHY   OF   MONT   PELEE 


179 


northwest  boundary  is  emphasized  by  the  prominent  lava- 
mass  of  the  Ti-Bolhommes,  whose  finger-pinnacle,  rising  to 
perhaps  four  thousand  feet  elevation  above  the  sea — a  veri- 
table "  devil's  thumb" — is  a  marked  figure  in  the  summit 
landscape  of  the  volcano.  The  present  form  of  this  moun- 


Photo.  Heilprin 


PELEE   SMOKING    FROM    FRAGMENTAL   CONE 


tain  seems  to  have  considerably  changed  since  the  days 
before  the  eruption  of  May  8,  as  I  cannot  find  on  any  of 
the  earlier  photographs  a  form  corresponding  in  outline 
with  that  which  now  appears ;  and  my  associate  from  Fort- 
de-France  assured  me  that  the  dent  summit  had  been  very 
greatly  developed.  It  may  be  that  it  was  formerly  covered 


180  THE   GEOGKAPHY   OF   MONT   PELEE 

in  part  by  agglomerates,  whose  removal  has  now  exposed 
a  greater  and  sharper  surface. 

The  active  central  cone  of  the  crater,  a  vast  accumula- 
tion of  fragmented  rock,  cinders  and  ashes,  which  has  built 
itself  up  since  the  latter  days  of  April,  occupies  basally 
almost  the  entire  basin  of  the  ancient  Etang  Sec.  It  gives 
the  appearance  of  being  a  vast  talus  heap,  and  its  steep 
slopes,  of  thirty  to  forty  degrees  or  more,  were  at  the  time 
of  our  studies  on  August  24  being  constantly  carved  by 
trailing  masses  of  rock  and  boulders.  These  ejected  blocks, 
some  of  which  could  hardly  have  been  less  than  from  fif- 
teen to  twenty  feet  across,  were  being  hurled  down  to  the 
head  of  the  gorge  of  the  Riviere  Blanche,  and  they  swept 
vast  clouds  of  dust  into  the  steam  that  was  issuing  in  puffs 
from  nearly  all  points  of  the  surface.  The  whole  cone 
was  at  times  in  ferment,  and  it  was  manifest  that  steam  was 
being  blown  or  forced  through  the  entire  thickness  of  wall. 

The  great  steam  pennant  of  the  volcano,  however,  issued 
directly  from  the  absolute  summit  of  this  cone,  and  clearly 
located  the  position  of  the  open  chimney.  As  it  emerged 
at  the  top  it  covered  practically  the  full  summit  of  the  cone, 
and  rose  almost  continuously  with  the  outer  slopes.  It  was 
thus  made  impossible  to  determine,  even  approximately, 
the  dimensions  of  the  actual  opening,  the  steam  manifestly 
escaping  through  a  part  of  the  summit  cap  itself.  But  the 
width  of  the  main  centrally-ascending  steam-column  could 
not  well  have  been  less  than  four  hundred  or  five  hundred 
feet,  which  is  what  I  roughly  estimated  to  be  the  diameter 
of  the  summit  of  the  cone.  The  spectacle  of  Mont  Pelee 


Photo.  Heilprin 


THE    MAJESTY   OF   PELEE'S   INFERNO 
The  crater  from  the  crater-rim — June  i,  1902 


THE   GEOGKAPHY   OF   MONT   PELEE  181 

smoking  away  from  its  beautifully-defined  chimney-pot  was 
a  superb  one,  wholly  different  from  anything  that  I  had 
seen  on  my  first  visit.  Measured  by  the  eye,  and  on  many 
excellent  photographs  which  I  was  fortunate  in  taking,  I 
should  say  that  the  summit  of  the  cone  at  the  time  of  our 
observations  rose  to  the  full  height  of  the  Morne  de  La 
Croix,  which  it  hid  from  view,  and,  therefore,  considerably 
above  the  general  summit  of  the  mountain.17  It  overtopped 
the  pinnacle  of  the  Ti-Bolhommes  by  at  least  one  hundred 
and  fifty  to  two  hundred  feet.  Its  full  constructed  height, 
measured  from  the  lowest  point  of  its  talus  base,  in  the  south- 
west, can  hardly  be  less  than  fifteen  hundred  or  sixteen 
hundred  feet — all  of  it  raised  up  since  the  latter  days  of 
April.  My  ascent  of  the  volcano  on  August  30,  the  day 
of  the  great  eruption,  was  largely  for  the  purpose  of  more 
accurately  determining  the  measure  of  this  giant  cone,  but 
the  conditions  of  the  atmosphere  on  the  summit  were  such 
that  the  parts  of  the  volcano  could  not  be  seen.  No  part 
of  the  cone,  nor  of  the  Morne  de  La  Croix,  is  in  view  from 
Vive. 

On  August  24,  when  I  attempted  the  ascent  from  the 
side  of  Saint  Pierre,  two  black  "  horns,"  one  standing  ver- 
tically on  the  southeastern  border,  and  the  other  projecting 
horizontally,  were  clearly  discernible  with  a  glass  to  border 
the  crest  of  the  cone.  They  may  have  been  segregated 
masses  of  cinders,  fused  in  such  a  way  as  to  present  the 
appearance  of  compact  rock.  It  is  possible  that  to  their 
incandescence  was  due  the  two  fiery  lights  on  the  crown 
which  we  observed  in  the  early  morning  of  the  22d,  when 


182  THE   GEOGKAPHY   OF  MONT   PELEE 

the  Fontabelle  closely  skirted  the  coast.  This  is  merely  a 
surmise,  as  I  had  no  means  of  ascertaining  if,  in  fact,  the 
"horns"  were  incandescent;  but  a  similar  association  be- 
tween summit  glows  and  incandescent  knobs  had  been  re- 
marked in  the  earlier  days  of  the  active  volcano. 

The  wholly  accordant  observations  of  Landes,  Roux 
and  others,  which  I  have  elsewhere  considered  (Chapters 
III,  IV  and  V),  leave  no  room  for  doubt  that  the  seat  of 
activity  and  destructivity  on  the  8th  of  May,  and  during 
previous  days,  was  the  basin  of  the  Etang  Sec ;  therefore, 
the  caldron  on  whose  base  is  now  implanted  the  great  frag- 
mental  cone.  It  is  also  equally  certain  that  the  real  open- 
ing of  this  basin  was  on  April  25,  when  a  heavy  ash  and 
steam-cloud  was  seen  to  issue  from  it ;  but  it  can  hardly  be 
doubted  that  a  minor  eruptivity,  beyond  the  simple  emission 
of  sulphurous  and  aqueous  vapors,  may  have  existed  before 
this  time.  Nothing  is  known  of  the  size  or  characteristics 
of  the  cone — if  the  present  cone  existed  at  all  at  the  time — 
when  the  eruption  took  place ;  and  therefore  the  allocation 
of  the  destroying  blast  to  a  definite  point  in  the  basin, 
whether  to  its  floor  or  to  the  opening  in  a  rising  cone,  re- 
mains to  a  degree  speculative  in  its  value.  It  appears  to 
me  most  probable  that  the  blast  issued  from  the  basal  floor 
of  the  basin,  rather  than  from  a  constructing  cone — a  view 
which  is  measurably  well  sustained  by  the  condition  of 
violent,  one  might  truly  say  paroxysmal,  activity  which 
this  portion  of  the  crater  still  maintains.  I  was  witness  to 
a  rare  exhibition  of  a  violent  eruption  from  this  quarter  on 
June  5,  and  on  the  following  day  occurred  a  still  more 


THE   GEOGKAPHY   OF  MONT   PELEE  183 

violent  eruption,  whose  characteristics  were  absolutely  par- 
allel with  those  of  the  cataclysm  of  May  8,  as  observed  by 
the  officers  of  the  Pouyer-  Quertier.  The  great  puffs  of  yel- 
low and  brown-black  "  cauliflower"  cloud  are,  indeed,  much 
more  closely  associated  with  the  explosions  from  the  floor  of 
the  crater-basin  than  they  are  with  the  outflows  from  the 
summit  vent ;  at  least,  this  has  been  my  observation,  ex- 
tended over  many  days.  When  directly  abreast  of  the  crater 
on  August  24,  and  viewing  it  from  an  elevation  of  from 
thirteen  hundred  to  sixteen  hundred  feet,  the  outbursts  were 
remarkably  forcible,  and  left  no  doubt  in  my  mind  that  they 
were  not  secondary  in  their  action — i.e.,  rising,  as  some 
have  supposed,  from  accumulated  masses  or  heaps  of  heated 
cinders,  but  direct  from  openings  in  the  floor  of  the  main 
crater.18  The  lower  and  upper  discharges  were  always 
clearly  distinguishable  from  each  other  in  their  fundamental 
characters,  and  the  former  were  much  more  violent  and 
paroxysmal,  and  usually  much  more  heavily  charged  with 
ash.  When  thrown  out  in  volume  and  with  force  they  built 
out  a  landscape  of  terrible  magnificence,  the  yellow  and 
almost  black  whorls  rising  like  huge  cauliflower  heads,  with 
amazing  swiftness,  and  spreading  out  far  and  wide  over  the 
mountain  slope.  When  the  outburst  was  accompanied  with 
much  steam,  the  vertical  column  frequently  expanded  out 
into  domed  and  mushroom-shaped  masses.  The  rapid 
transformation  of  these  forms,  and  the  chaotic  cloud-world 
that  swept  round  them,  were  bewildering.  While  we  did 
not  have  the  opportunity  to  accurately  measure  the  heights 
to  which  these  clouds  ascended,  I  should  say,  judged  by  the 


184  THE   GEOGKAPHY   OF  MONT   PELEE 

eye  alone,  that  they  must  have  at  times  reached  nearly,  if 
not  quite,  two  miles.  During  the  eruption  of  June  5,  which 
we  witnessed  from  close  range,  the  ashes  must  have  been 
flung  to  still  greater  heights. 

In  the  heavier  outbursts  that  we  witnessed  in  the  latter 
days  of  August,  almost  the  whole  crater-basin  was  filled  by 
the  materials  of  these  basal  discharges,  and  the  vigor  with 
which  the  great  bursts  came  up,  and  in  independent  col- 
umns, makes  it  appear  as  if  there  were  not  only  a  single 
opening  on  the  floor  of  the  caldron,  but  that  several  such 
may  have  existed.  On  August  30,  and  for  two  days  follow- 
ing, the  entire  basin  of  the  crater  was  "  smoking"  continu- 
ously in  one  vast  united  column  ;  and  it  was  the  energy  of 
this  rapidly  rising  mass,  rasping  the  surrounding  walls  of 
the  volcano,  which  was  doubtless  in  great  measure  respon- 
sible for  the  terrific  noise  which  the  volcano  gave  out.  As 
I  have  elsewhere  stated,  this  steam-column  was  found  to 
rise  from  the  border  of  the  crater  with  an  initial  velocity  of 
from  one  and  one-half  to  three  miles  per  minute  ;  and  it  has 
been  suggested  that  the  quantity  of  steam  and  vapor  that 
rose  in  any  one  particle  of  time  may  have  been  the  equal  of 
the  full  quantity  that  was  being  thrown  out  from  all  the 
steam-jets  of  the  world  collectively,  including  those  of 
steamboats,  locomotives  and  all  of  the  forms  of  steam- 
engines.  After  a  careful  study  of  the  territory  that  was 
affected  and  the  conditions  of  the  smoke-clouds  as  they 
issued  from  the  crater-basin — the  crowding  over  of  the 
vicious  black  and  ruddy  puffs  to  the  side  of  Morne  Rouge 
— I  think  it  not  unlikely,  despite  the  apparent  contradic- 


THE  GEOGKAPHY  OF  MONT  PELEE       185 

tion  that  is  presented  by  the  overtopping  summit- vent,  that 
the  destroying  blast  of  August  30  also  issued  from  the  floor 
of  the  basin,  and  perhaps  from  the  same  opening  whence 
issued  the  destroying  cloud  of  May  8.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  fact  that  the  destroying  blast  now  for  the  first  time 
swept  over  the  mountain,  when  the  cone  reached  the  level 
of  the  full  summit,  naturally  suggests  an  association  with 
this  structure.19 

In  associating  the  present  activity  of  Mont  Pelee  with 
parts  of  the  volcano  that  were  concerned  in  the  eruption 
last  preceding  this  one,  we  have  as  a  basis  for  study  and 
comparison  only  the  report  of  the  Scientific  Commission 
of  1851,  MM.  Leprieur,  Peyraud  and  Rufz.  From  this 
report  it  is  made  clear  that  none  of  the  existing  vents  had 
part  in  the  earlier  eruption,  which  in  itself  appears  to  have 
been  hardly  more  than  a  warning,  with  a  localized  area  of 
destruction  immediately  about  the  explosive  points.  There 
were  at  the  time  of  the  investigation  of  the  commission 
three  active  craterlets,  two  situated  at  an  elevation,  as  deter- 
mined barometrically,  of  eight  hundred  and  eighty-three 
metres,  and  the  third,  which  was  seemingly  the  largest, 
although  measuring  only  one  and  a  half  metres  across,  situ- 
ated some  distance  farther  down  the  slope.  This  is  thought 
to  have  been  the  seat  of  the  ancient  Soufriere.*  The  position 
bore  directly  east  of  Precheur,  from  which  it  was  distant 

*  "  Mais  nous  voulions  visiter  encore  un  troisieme  crater e  que  nous 
voyions  fumer  aussi  a  quelques  centaines  de  metres  plus  bos  dans  la  meme 
ravine,  et  qu'on  nous  disait  avoir  pour  siege  Vancienne  Soufrtirc."  Erup- 
tion du  Yolcan  de  la  Montagne  Pelee,  p.  9 . 


186  THE   GEOGKAPHY   OF  MONT   PELEE 

seven  kilometres  in  a  direct  line.  The  vent  nearest  to  Saint 
Pierre  was  distant  ten  kilometres  from  that  city.  These 
several  openings,  which  were  found  in  a  condition  of  semi- 
activity  on  August  9,  were  located  in  a  ravine  of  the 
Riviere  Claire,  a  northwestern  or  right-hand  tributary  to 
the  Riviere  Blanche,  and  at  positions  which  can  probably 
no  longer  be  identified.  The  commission  did  not  consider 
them  to  be  active  points  of  the  main  eruption,  but  assumed 
for  these  a  considerable  number  of  other  craterlets  lying  in 
an  adjacent  valley,  and  at  positions  whose  general  or  medial 
elevation  above  the  sea  is  placed  at  eight  hundred  and  six- 
teen metres.  These  were  found  to  be  all  dormant. 

That  none  of  the  several  points  of  activity  or  past- 
activity  that  are  here  referred  to  are  in  any  way  identifiable 
with  the  Etang  Sec  (the  focus  of  the  recent  outburst) — a 
correspondence  which  has  generally  and  not  unnaturally 
been  assumed — is  thus  plainly  indicated  by  the  geographical 
position  outside  of  the  actual  basin  of  the  Riviere  Blanche, 
and  in  the  further  narrative  of  MM.  Leprieur  and  Peyraud 
(p.  16),  which  states  that  these  investigators  visited  the  old 
lake-basin  for  the  purpose  of  making  additional  observations 
on  what  was  assumed  to  be  another  and  still  more  ancient 
crater  of  the  volcano  ("  Sans  visiter  V Etang  Sec  qui  passe 
pour  un  autre  cratere  plus  ancien  du  volcan").  This  is,, 
indeed,  a  very  important  statement,  for  it  shows  the  eruptive 
point  or  points  of  the  volcano  to  have  shifted  their  positions 
since  1851  towards  the  side  of  Saint  Pierre.  Naturally, 
this  condition  fastens  an  added  degree  of  insecurity  upon 
the  mountain.  The  lake,  instead  of  being  dry  (as  its  name 


THE   GEOGKAPHY   OF   MONT   PELEE  187 

signifies — dry  tarn),  was  found  to  contain  considerable 
water,  the  quantity  of  which  was  estimated  to  be  about  five 
times  that  contained  in  the  summit  lake  (the  Lac  des 
Palmistes :  "  remplie  au  jour  ou  ils  le  visitaient  par  une 
masse  d'eau  considerable  et  a  leur  estime  cinq  fois  plus 
grande  que  dans  le  lac  superieur"  page  16),  an  overcharge 
which  the  guides  attributed  to  an  unusual  fall  of  rain  during 
the  past  winter  season.  The  elevation  of  the  lake  was 
determined  barometrically  to  be  nine  hundred  and  twenty- 
one  metres  (three  thousand  and  twenty-five  feet),  corres- 
ponding closely  with  the  level  of  the  most  elevated  of  the 
craterlets  which  had  been  located  in  the  more  distant  ravine 
("  Ainsi  cet  e tang-sec  se  trouve  presque  a  la  meme  elevation 
que  les  bouches  superieures  du  volcan  placees  dans  une  ravine 
plus  eloignee.  Rien  d'ailleurs  netait  change  dans  ces  lieux 
au  dire  des  guides,  on  ne  remarqua  nifente,  ni  eboulement"). 
The  belief  that  Mont  Pelee  has  had  but  a  single  erup- 
tion recorded  in  its  history  prior  to  the  one  of  May,  1902, 
a  supposition  that  is  universally  held  in  Martinique,  is  erro- 
neous, the  volcano  having  passed  through  a  moderate  parox- 
ysm on  January  22,  1762.  A  fairly  extended  account  of 
this  eruption  is  published  in  the  Journal  des  Mines,  of  Paris 
(Vol.  Ill  (1796),  pp.  58-59  of  Part  xviii),  as  an  annotation 
to  Dupuget's  paper :  <f  Coup-d'ceil  rapide  sur  la  Physique  gen- 
erale  et  la  Mineralogie  des  Antilles"  and  appears  from  the 
notes  of  an  eye-witness,  Aquart,  communicated  to  M.  Du- 
puget.  Earthquakes  and  the  emission  of  sulphurous  odors 
and  vapors  in  considerable  quantity  were  an  accompaniment 
of  this  eruption,  whose  disturbing  seat  was  in  a  number  of 


188  THE    GEOGEAPHY   OF   MONT   PELEE 

craterlets  situated  at  an  elevation  of  about  five  hundred 
toises  (three  thousand  feet — consequently,  closely  corre- 
sponding with  the  altitudinal  position  of  some  of  the  vents 
of  the  later  eruptions).  Much  vegetation  was  burned  or 
singed,  and  a  number  of  opossums  were  killed.  It  is  said 
that  the  earth  was  riddled  with  holes,  and  many  sulphur 
aspirators  were  opened.  At  a  lower  level  of  some  five  hun- 
dred to  six  hundred  paces  distance  there  was  a  flow  of  hot 
black  water  (mud  ?).  The  account  concludes  with  the  sig- 
nificant statement :  "  This  ancient  eruption  of  Mont  Pelee 
seems  to  have  had  its  entire  effect  on  the  western  side 
[of  the  volcano].  That  quarter  is  completely  overturned 
[wrecked]  .  .  .  whereas  on  the  side  opposite  the  surface  is 
less  torn."  * 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that  this  earliest  recorded  erup- 
tion of  Pelee  was  from  a  part  of  the  mountain  not  far  re- 
moved from  the  position  of  the  1851  eruption,  if,  indeed,  it 
was  not  absolutely  coincident  with  it.  The  general  charac- 
teristics of  the  two  eruptions  appear  to  have  been  identical. 

*  "  L 'explosion  ancienne  de  la  Montague  Pelee  parait  avoir  porte 
tout  son  effort  du  cote  de  Vouest.  Cette  partie  est  entierement  bouleverse'e. 
.  .  ,  tandis  que  du  cote  oppose  le  terrain  est  moms  brise."  P.  59.  The 
year  of  this  eruption  is  more  generally  given  1792,  but  there  can 
be  no  question  that  the  event  took  place  at  an  earlier  day,  as  the 
facts  were  communicated  to  Dupuget  while  he  was  on  the  island, 
and  his  voyage  was  made  in  1784—1786.  This  relation  is  well  set 
forth  by  Professor  Mercalli  in  the  Atti  della  Societd  Italiana  di  Scienze 
Naturali  of  Milan,  XLI,  p.  313,  1902. 


I  > 


XII 
PfiRE   MARY,  CURE   OF   MORNE   ROUGE 

June  2,  following  our  second  ascent  of  Mont  Pelee, 
Mr.  Leadbeater  and  I  made  our  pilgrimage  to  Morne  Rouge, 
where  the  faithful  Cure,  Pere  Mary,  had  done  so  much  to 
relieve  the  anxieties  of  his  little  flock,  and  to  serve  them 
with  the  necessaries  of  life.  There  were  still  four  hundred 
remaining  in  the  beautiful  mountain  village,  which  before 
had  counted  nearly  four  thousand  inhabitants,  and  for  these 
food  had  to  be  provided.  We  took  with  us  letters  that  were 
thought  to  help  the  Father  in  his  good  work,  and  which 
conveyed  to  him  blessings  for  the  work  that  had  already 
been  accomplished.  It  was  no  easy  task  to  remain  for 
weeks  at  this  post  on  the  hillsides,  directly  facing  Mont 
Pelee,  and  not  farther  removed  from  it  than  by  about  two 
miles.  The  forest-land  about  had  been  broken  and  singed, 
and  in  his  own  little  town  the  gardens  showed  where  ashes 
and  cinders  had  fallen.  The  smoke  of  Pelee  towered  up  to 
mountain  heights,  and  covered  with  shadow  the  belfry  of 
the  beautiful  church  which  was  the  heart  of  Pere  Mary. 
The  volcano's  thunders  rolled  and  broke,  and  bright  sparks 
showered  into  the  sky  the  fire  of  the  raging  earth  ;  but  the 
good  priest  remained,  unmoved  by  the  dangers  that  sur- 
rounded him.  From  his  upper  world  he  had  looked  down 
upon  fair  Saint  Pierre  on  the  morning  of  its  destruction,  and 

189 


190     PEEE  MAKY,  CUEE  OF  MOENE  EOUGE 

had  seen  the  black  cloud  roll  out  from  the  volcano,  and  cast 
its  death-mantle  over  the  doomed  city.  He  knew  better 
than  others  what  was  the  veiled  language  of  the  burning 
mountain,  but  to  him  this  language  stirred  only  sympathy 
to  the  afflicted,  and  a  heart  to  do  good  to  all.  Every  day 
hundreds  came  to  him  to  ask  and  to  be  given,  and  every 
night  his  fervent  prayers  asked  that  a  deliverance  be 
granted  them,  for  there  was  little  of  food  remaining.  For 
many  days  one  could  see  nearly  to  the  end,  and  what  was 
left  came  out  in  pitiful  morsels. 

The  aged  Father,  who  was  clad  in  his  cassock  when  we 
arrived,  grasped  us  warmly  by  the  hand  and  bade  us  wel- 
come in  the  shelter  of  his  plainly-boarded  presbytery.  He 
read  through  the  letters  that  we  had  brought  for  him,  and 
again  gently  welcoming  us,  invited  us  to  break  bread  over  a 
bottle  of  wine.  "This  is  the  last  bottle,"  he  said,  "but, 
oh !  what  matters  that,  we  are  nearly  to  the  end  of  our 
bread  and  meat.  God  be  merciful !"  With  tears  in  his 
eyes  he  turned  to  us  and  bade  us  partake.  It  was  with 
much  difficulty  that  I  could  force  myself  to  join  in  the  light 
repast,  for  it  seemed  like  stealing  the  life-food  from  many, 
but  Pere  Mary  insisted.  Fortunately,  we  had  brought  our 
own  lunch,  and  were  thus  able  to  leave  on  the  table  a  fair 
compensation  for  what  we  ate.  A  large  part  of  the  popula- 
tion of  Morne  Rouge  had  already  for  days  been  living  on 
fruit  and  biscuits,  and  a  very  little  of  that ;  and  it  was  evi- 
dent that,  unless  more  relief  came  in  and  at  an  early  day, 
starvation  would  be  staring  the  poor  people  in  the  face. 
We  promised  the  Cure  that  we  would  try  to  expedite  the 


PEEE  MAEY,  CUEE  OF  MOENE  EOUGE 


191 


transmission  of  relief  from  Fort- de-France,  and  at  that  he 
felt  happy. 

After  attending  to  the  wants  of  some  who  had  come  to 
him  for  assistance  and  advice,  he  led  me  through  his  church, 
and  up  into  the  belfry  portico,  where  he  explained  the 
country  at  large  and  the  part  which  the  volcano  had  taken 


Photo.  Heilprin 


ON  THE  ROAD  TO  MORNE  ROUGE 


in  destroying  it.  It  was  a  truly  beautiful  landscape,  with 
its  rolling  woodland,  its  scattered  habitations  and  thatched 
cottages,  its  gardens  of  palm  and  banana ;  but  it  was  easy 
to  see  how  much  had  been  lost  through  the  cindering  of  the 
vegetation.  Pere  Mary  directed  my  attention  to  a  change 
of  contour  in  the  upper  part  of  Mont  Pelee,  where  three 


192  PERE   MARY,  CURE    OF   MORNE   ROUGE 

tooth-like  prominences  showed  a  saw-edge  rising  over  the 
slope  that  looked  southward  from  the  summit.  These  were 
not  in  existence  before  the  fatal  eruption,  nor  did  they  be- 
come visible  till  many  days  afterwards.  They  were  white, 
and  looked  as  though  they  had  been  burned  out,  but  at 
night-time  they  shone  out  with  red  fire,  and  made  bril- 
liantly luminant  the  crown  of  the  volcano.  With  little 
doubt  these  points  of  rock  were  the  protuberances  that  we 
had  seen  rising  out  from  the  crater  at  the  time  that  we 
made  the  second  ascent  (June  1). 

The  site  of  Morne  Rouge,  occupying  the  crest  of  the 
long  ridge  which  unites  Mont  Pelee  with  the  contreforts  of 
the  Pitons  de  Carbet,  and  with  the  circling  heights  of  the 
Morne  Vert  back  of  it  and  the  projecting  knob  of  the 
Calebasse  on  the  opposite  side,  is  perhaps  the  loveliest  in 
the  entire  island  of  Martinique.  From  it  the  eye  surveys 
nearly  all  the  forms  of  Martinique  landscape — not  crowded 
together  as  to  harass  the  mind,  but  opened  out  into  charm- 
ing vistas  of  receding  lowland  and  gently  undulating  moun- 
tain slopes — and  gathers  in  the  more  distant  waters  of  the 
Atlantic  with  those  of  the  blue  Caribbean  Sea.  Northward 
lie  the  forested  gardens  and  orchards  of  Ajou pa-Bouillon, 
and  southward  the  equally  verdant  slopes  of  Fonds-Saint- 
Denis,  the  Reduits  and  Mont  Parnasse.  The  city  itself 
had  in  a  way  been  one  of  opulence,  for  many  of  the 
wealthier  inhabitants  of  Saint  Pierre  sought  here,  at  an 
elevation  of  fourteen  hundred  feet,  the  cooling  breezes  of 
summer,  and  the  benefits  of  a  healthy,  even  if  somewhat 
humid,  climate — a  relief  from  the  oppressive  heat  of  the 


PEEE   MAEY,  CUEE   OF  MOEKE   EOUGE  193 

western  lowland.  At  the  time  of  our  visit  it  presented  a 
largely  desolated  appearance,  most  of  the  houses  being 
closed  and  giving  no  signs  of  the  living.  The  families 
that  remained  were  unsettled  and  weary,  undecided  whether 
to  remain  longer  or  to  seek  shelter  elsewhere.  Knowing 
that  we  had  been  to  the  summit  of  the  volcano,  old  and 
young  came  to  their  garden-fences  to  gather  from  us  such 
information  as  might  tend  to  determine  them  in  their 
course.  "  Was  Pelee  still  active  ?"  "  Was  it  still  to  be 
feared  ?"  "  Can  we  remain,  or  must  we  go  ?" — these  were 
the  interrogatories  that  were  put  to  us  by  people  who  were 
sad  of  heart  and  trembling  for  that  which  the  morrow 
might  bring.  I  gave  them  such  consoling  words  as  the 
conditions  seemed  to  warrant, — alas  !  they  were  not  many, 
— and  they  seemed  pleased  with  this  paltry  relief.  One  old 
man  took  my  hand  and  pressed  it  gently  to  his  lips,  then, 
turning  to  his  family,  said  in  low  and  sad  words,  "  Heaven 
be  praised,  we  are  still  living."  A  bright  boy  of  about 
sixteen,  who  met  us  on  the  road  near  Ajoupa- Bouillon, 
addressed  me  in  English,  and  begged  that  I  inform  him  for 
the  comfort  of  his  aged  and  infirm  mother.  I  asked  him 
for  his  residence,  which  was  pointed  out  near  by,  and  also 
where  he  had  acquired  his  mastery  of  the  foreign  tongue. 
He  replied,  in  the  Lycee  of  Saint  Pierre. 

The  road  by  which  we  had  come  from  Vive  to  Morne 
Rouge  is  one  of  the  best  in  the  island.  It  follows  for  some 
distance  the  main  Capot,  and  enters  well  into  the  heart  of 
the  mountain  country.  Along  it  the  traveller  is  treated  to 

an  enchanting  display  of  tropical  vegetation  of  palms,  tree- 
is 


194  PEKE   MAEY,  CUKE   OF   MOKNE   EOUGE 

ferns  and  bamboos,  of  heliconias,  melastomes  and  rubber- 
trees, — of  giant  foresters,  cased  in  cables  and  creepers, 
holding  out  their  naked  branches  as  if  asking  for  food  and 
light;  of  star-massed  epiphytes  and  orchids,  and  great 
bursts  of  scarlet  and  blue  blossoms.  We  follow  along  deep 
barrancas  musical  with  their  tumbling  waters,  and  shrouded 
beneath  an  almost  impenetrable  maze  of  foliage.  The 
silence  of  the  woodland  was  most  impressive.  A  few 
lizards  here  and  there  slid  along  the  tree-trunks,  and  occa- 
sional blackbirds  hurried  across  the  open,  but  there  was  no 
song  or  voice  of  any  kind.  The  world  of  life  was  hushed 
in  the  silence  of  the  dreary  solitude.  A  stray  land-crab 
edged  its  way  across  the  open  road  to  clear  our  path,  but  of 
the  once  dreaded  fer-de-lance  we  saw  nothing. 

How  little  did  we  think  at  the  time  of  this  first  visit  to 
Morne  Rouge  that  in  a  few  short  weeks  the  town  would 
cease  to  exist,  and  that  with  it  would  pass  the  good  Father, 
whose  ennobling  life,  consecrated  to  charity  and  humanity, 
had  set  an  example  to  be  followed  by  the  world.  At  nine 
o'clock,  or  a  few  minutes  after  nine,  of  the  evening  of  Au- 
gust 30  a  tornadic  blast,  similar  to  that  which  had  destroyed 
Saint  Pierre,  swept  over  the  crest  of  Pelee,  and  in  hardly 
more  than  a  minute,  perhaps  even  in  less  time,  Morne 
Rouge  was  swept  from  existence  and  burning.  I  was  at  the 
time  at  the  Habitation  Leyritz,  on  the  northeastern  foot  of 
the  mountain,  about  five  miles  distant,  watching  the  extra- 
ordinary electric  display  immediately  overhead.  A  light 
shower  of  lapilli  and  ashes  was  falling,  but  not  sufficiently 
to  obscure  the  night.  The  volcano  continued  roaring  as  it 


PEKE  MAKY,  CUKE  OF  MOENE  KOUGE      195 

had  done  during  the  Whole  of  the  day,  and  most  of  the  day 
previous,  but  there  were  no  distinctive  detonations  audible. 
Of  a  sudden,  a  great  red  glow  shot  high  into  the  sky  and 
told  that  something  had  happened.  Morne  Rouge  had  been 
shattered,  and  much  of  what  remained  was  burning. 

When  the  blast  first  swept  furiously  through  the  town 
Pere  Mary  was  in  the  presbytery,  and  it  was  only  when  this 
home  was  aflame  and  no  longer  habitable  did  he  seek  the 
shelter  of  the  adjoining  church.  It  was  while  going  the 
few  paces  from  the  one  building  to  the  other  that  he  was 
stricken — burned  like  the  other  poor  creatures  who  were 
either  dead  or  dying.  With  a  strong  effort  Pere  Mary  suc- 
ceeded in  dragging  himself  into  his  dear  sanctum,  where 
he  was  found  the  following  morning,  suffering  in  agony,  yet 
sufficiently  composed  to  ask  after  the  welfare  of  his  little 
flock.  Nearly  or  quite  twelve  hundred  of  these  had  already 
perished.  A  number  of  small  houses  and  the  church  were 
what  remained  intact  of  Morne  Rouge.  The  wounded  Cu- 
rate was  removed  to  Fonds- Saint-Denis  and  thence  to  Fort- 
de-France,  where,  at  eleven  o'clock  on  Monday  morning, 
September  1,  he  expired.  On  the  following  day  Vicar- 
General  Parel  delivered  the  funeral  address,  and  the  capital 
of  Martinique  paid  homage  to  the  man  whose  name  was  in 
the  future  to  .be  a  part  of  its  history. 

The  unwavering  heroism  which  bore  Pere  Mary  to  his 
life-saving  task  carried  with  it  no  reward  beyond  that  which 
is  reaped  from  a  consciousness  of  having  done  the  highest 
work  of  man.  But  for  his  presence,  and  his  kindly  and 
soothing  words,  serious  panics  would  have  repeatedly  broken 


196  PEKE   MAEY,  CUKE   OF   MOKNE   KOUGE 

out  in  the  northern  part  of  the  island,  for  it  was  not  Morne 
Rouge  alone  that  his  voice  touched,  but  other  settlements 
were  guided  by  it  in  their  thoughts  and  action.  "  He  very 
courageously  remains  practically  alone  in  Morne  Rouge," 
writes  Vicar-General  Parel  to  the  Bishop  of  the  diocese, 
"  beneath  the  jaws  of  the  monster  and  under  the  guidance 
of  Notre  Dame  de  la  Delivrande.  I  wrote  to  congratulate 
him,  but  there  was  no  longer  a  postal  connection.  If  he 
succumbed,  he  will  only  learn  in  heaven  that  we  admire 
him." 


xni 

CLOUDS   OF   PASSAGE 

ON  the  morning  of  June  6,  when  events  had  shaped 
themselves  to  a  fairly  peaceful  turn,  Fort-de-France  was 
again  thrown  into  panic  by  the  cries  of  "  le  volcan !  le 
volcan  f"  Men  and  women,  with  tiny  children  clinging  to 
them  and  cursing  the  day  that  brought  them  misery,  were 
running  wildly  about,  homeward  or  outward,  according  to 
the  degree  of  fear  that  had  taken  possession  of  their  minds. 
Others  of  more  mature  thought  were  anxiously  watching 
from  street  corners,  while  not  a  few  were  invoking  the 
aid  of  heaven  through  prayer  and  lamentation.  That 
which  had  given  cause  for  this  excitement  was  a  new 
and  vigorous  outbreak  of  Mont  Pelee.  Rushing  from  the 
hotel  to  the  street,  I  observed  the  sky  darkened  by  a  vast 
cloud  that  was  drawing  over  it.  It  advanced  with  bewilder- 
ing velocity,  spreading  out  like  a  giant  fan  as  it  propelled 
its  way  southward,  and  in  a  few  seconds  the  whole  of  Fort- 
de-France,  and  all  of  the  island  that  lay  beyond,  were  in 
shadow.  The  twilight  of  an  eclipse  had  settled  over  us. 
The  spectacle  of  this  advancing  ash-cloud,  like  a  huge  oc- 
topus overspreading  everything,  was  supremely  beautiful, 
almost  overwhelming,  and  for  a  moment  we  were  lost  to  the 
portentous  secret  that  it  carried.  The  gaze  of  everyone 
was  directed  upward — watching,  hoping,  fearing.  The  end 
appeared  to  have  arrived  for  some.  The  cloud  came  in 

197 


198  CLOUDS   OF   PASSAGE 

silence,  and  it  followed  its  course  in  the  same  way.  Except 
where  illumined  by  the  sun  into  a  dazzling  white  border, 
its  color  was  a  cold  and  forbidding  gray-black. 

What  had  happened  ?  was  the  question  that  was  thought 
and  asked  by  everyone.  So  large  an  ash-cloud  had  not 
been  known  since  the  fatal  8th  of  May,  and  many  seemed 
to  think  that  not  even  then  was  there  anything  comparable. 
I  roughly  estimated  the  height  of  its  course  to  be  not  less 
than  five  miles  above  us,  and  it  may  have  been  more.  The 
normal  air-clouds  were  then  swiftly  flying  in  the  opposite 
direction,  heading  for  the  volcano,  and  giving  the  appear- 
ance of  being  attracted  by  it.  Their  plane  was  far  below 
that  of  the  clouds  reaching  over  them.  An  ashen  pallor 
hung  over  the  capital  for  five  hours  after  which  the  city 
again  emerged  into  a  dim  sunlight. 

Having  acquired  some  local  reputation  as  a  vulcanolo- 
gist  through  my  ascents  of  Mont  Pelee,  I  was  besieged  for 
an  "  opinion"  on  this  new  manifestation  of  the  volcano's 
activity,  and  the  probabilities  or  possibilities  that  were  to 
follow  as  a  consequence.  Many  poor  souls  had  led  them- 
selves to  believe  that  the  day  of  judgment  had  finally 
arrived,  or  was  at  least  in  sight.  Others,  more  moderate 
in  their  measure  of  the  impending  catastrophe,  only  in- 
quired if  there  still  remained  time  to  pack  and  leave.  I 
made  an  effort,  and  perhaps  with  some  success,  to  allay 
their  fears  by  unconcernedly  pointing  my  camera  to  the 
sky,  but  the  collecting  crowd  became  uncomfortably  large, 
and  I  moved  on.  At  this  time  the  cry  came  along  that  the 
sea  was  rising,  and  this  gave  cause  for  additional  alarm. 


CLOUDS   OF   PASSAGE  199 

A  similar  occurrence  was  remembered  as  part  of  the  phe- 
nomena of  May  8,  and  it  was  thought  that  possibly  that 
event  had  been  repeated.  The  ocean-level  had,  in  truth, 
risen  three  feet,  and  the  city  could  spare  but  little  more. 
Fortunately  there  were  no  bad  results  following  this  rise, 
and  the  waters  fell  just  as  rapidly  as  they  had  come.  The 
day  was  almost  exactly  one  month  after  the  destruction  of 
Saint  Pierre,  and  many  wise  people  had  prophesied  that  a 
second  destruction,  similar  to  the  first  one,  would  take  place 
at  this  time.  Here  was  the  confirmation. 

Later  in  the  day,  as  the  gray  tint  of  the  city  wore  off, 
the  people  regained  part  of  their  confidence  and  once  more 
settled  down  to  the  quiet  of  their  normal  existence.  Only 
on  the  ocean-front  were  crowds  still  assembled,  looking  at 
the  ashen  cloud  as  it  floated  off  to  St.  Lucia,  and  at  the 
peculiarly  colored  steel-blue  sea  that  lay  beneath  it.  To- 
wards evening,  by  invitation  of  one  of  the  officers  of  the 
French  Cable  Company,  I  visited  the  cable-ship  Pouyer- 
Quertier,  which  had  again  been  out  grappling  for  the  lost 
cable.  The  commander,  Captain  Thirion,  kindly  supplied 
me  with  some  of  the  details  of  the  explosion,  which  were 
subsequently  embodied  in  an  official  report,  and  with 
a  number  of  the  larger  fragments  of  pumice  with  which 
the  vessel  had  been  bombarded.  The  decks  were  still 
coated  with  ash,  although  in  no  great  quantity.  At  ten 
o'clock,  when  the  activity  of  Pelee  became  specially  notice- 
able, the  Pouyer-Quertier  was  out  six  miles  from  land,  a 
little  to  the  north  of  Saint  Pierre.  At  that  time  a  lofty 
ash-cloud  was  seen  to  issue  from  the  summit  crater,  and 


200  CLOUDS   OF  PASSAGE 

almost  simultaneously  a  thick  black  cloud  rolled  down 
the  valley  of  the  Riviere  Blanche  and  forced  its  way  to 
the  sea. 

The  aspect  and  manner  of  the  volcano  were  precisely 
what  had  been  noted  on  May  8.  The  black  cloud  kept 
close  to  the  surface  of  the  earth,  rolling  vertically,  and 
descending  with  a  velocity  which,  if  not  as  great  as  that  of 
the  cloud  of  May  8,  was  swift  enough.  It  made  a  course 
of  five  miles  over  the  sea,  and  accomplished  its  full  flight 
of  seven  miles  in  twenty  minutes.  Its  dissolution  on  the 
surface  of  the  sea  appears  to  have  been  accomplished  with- 
out explosion  or  ignition  of  any  kind.  The  Pouyer-Quer- 
tier  had  by  this  time  sought  safety  in  flight,  for  it  had  been 
approached  to  within  a  mile  by  the  threatening  cloud,  and 
the  fall  of  cinders  and  ash  was  heavy. 

The  eruption  was  noted  by  a  slight  barometric  fall,  but 
it  may  be  that  the  fluctuation  of  the  recording  needle  was 
the  result  of  a  jar  or  seismic  movement,  rather  than  of  a 
true  atmospheric  displacement.  The  fluctuation  was  four 
millimetres.  The  following  is  the  official  account  (transla- 
tion) of  the  eruption  as  it  was  posted  in  the  cable  office  of 
Fort-de-France  on  the  following  day : 

FORT-DE-FRANCE,  7th. — During  the  eruption  which  occurred  yes- 
terday morning  the  French  Cable  Company's  repairing  steamer 
Pouyer-Quertier  was  five  miles  off  the  mouth  of  the  river  Blanche 
grappling  for  the  cable.  At  the  moment  a  thick  cloud  appeared 
unfolding  itself  vertically  and  horizontally  at  the  same  time.  This 
cloudy  mass  was  as  large  as  the  one  observed  during  the  eruption  on 
the  8th  ultimo.  Lightning  was  to  be  seen  constantly  flashing  from 


CLOUDS   OF  PASSAGE  201 

the  sea  towards  the  sky.  The  lower  part  of  the  cloud  travelled  very 
rapidly  towards  the  southwest.  In  less  than  twenty  minutes  it  had 
travelled  seven  miles ;  then  the  volumes  became  larger  and  the  sky 
darkened  all  over.  A  strong  smell  of  sulphur  spread  while  a  thick 
shower  of  stones  and  mud  fell  on  the  Pouyer-Quertier.  During  this 
phenomenon  the  barometer  fell  suddenly  from  765  to  761.5  and  then 
rose  to  766.  It  was  with  great  difficulty  that  the  Pouyer-Quertier  suc- 
ceeded in  escaping  from  the  danger  of  asphyxia  and  fire. 

The  record  of  the  Pouyer-Quertier  made  it  clear  that 
the  explosion  of  the  morning  was  a  serious  affair,  the  full 
measure  of  which  could  not  be  had  from  a  study  of  the 
magnificent  ash-cloud  alone.  On  the  day  preceding  the 
occurrence  we  were  on  a  tour  of  survey  along  the  northern 
coast  of  the  island,  and  had  then  an  opportunity  to  study  a 
new  phase  of  the  volcano's  activity.  We  had  chartered  a 
small  steamer,  the  Rubis,  to  take  us  to  Grande-Riviere  and 
Macouba,  and  on  our  return  landed  in  front  of  the  great 
mud-flow  which  had  overwhelmed  the  Usine  Guerin  and 
now  lay  like  a  huge  glacial  tongue  between  the  Rivieres 
Blanche  and  Seche.  At  the  point  where  we  landed  the 
flow  had  been  fissured  out  by  the  sea,  and  here,  as  at  several 
other  points,  gave  out  strong  jets  of  steam,  with  a  feebly 
sulphurous  odor.  I  coaxed  some  of  these  with  a  stick,  but 
found  them  harmless.  The  whole  mud-flat  was  still  densely 
steamed  within,  but  the  surface  had  hardened  and  largely 
crumbled  into  dust,  and  gave  out  but  little  gaseous  vapor. 
We  followed  in  the  line  of  the  crater,  keeping  close  to  the 
course  of  the  Riviere  Blanche  for  about  three-quarters  of 
a  mile,  ^hen  the  conditions  of  the  weather  became  such 


202  CLOUDS   OF   PASSAGE 

that  it  was  thought  prudent  to  return.  Our  observations, 
although  we  obtained  a  clearer  view  of  the  upper  gorge 
of  the  Riviere  Blanche  than  we  had  had  up  to  that  time, 
revealed  little  of  consequence.  We  found  the  Riviere 
Blanche  muddy  and  turbulent,  but  not  hot,  and  steam  was 
issuing  from  it  only  where  heated  parts  of  the  bed  or 
banks  were  newly  exposed  by  undercutting,  and  permitted 
of  the  rapid  formation  or  evolution  of  vapor.  At  such 
points  great  puffs  were  being  forcibly  blown  off,  and  their 
periodicity  in  action  easily  suggested  the  presence  of  true 
fumaroles. 

We  had  leisurely  made  the  descent  of  the  mud-flat  and 
barely  began  to  pull  our  dinkey  from  the  shore,  when  the 
cry  went  up,  "  look  at  the  volcano  !"  We  turned  our  eyes 
in  the  direction  of  Pelee,  and  the  sight  that  met  them  was 
truly  terrifying.  The  crater,  whose  peaceful  method  had 
lured  us  to  a  farther  point  than  was  perhaps  entirely  safe, 
had  suddenly  broken  into  eruption,  and  was  hurling  wild 
sheets  of  yellow  cloud  to  the  northward.  They  came  roll- 
ing and  puffing  with  great  fury,  and  in  an  instant  almost 
the  whole  northern  face  of  the  mountain  was  in  turmoil. 
Over  every  slope  the  smoke  was  shifting  and  rising,  here 
and  there  in  sweeping  threads,  as  if  tossed  from  a  prairie 
fire,  elsewhere  twirling  itself  into  lofty  columns  and  pyra- 
mids or  mushroom  caps — rolling  black  and  yellow  with 
the  angry  ashes  that  were  being  carried  out  by  them. 
Five  minutes  before  we  had  been  walking  about  in  the  sun- 
shine of  this  same  mountain  slope,  not  fearing  that  any- 
thing could  disturb  our  mission ;  and  now  the  mountain 


CLOUDS   OF   PASSAGE  203 

was  lashed  in  fury,  and  buried  in  the  dark  shadows  which 
its  new  life  had  called  forth.  The  scene  was  an  extra- 
ordinary one,  and  one  that  was  made  doubly  impressive  by 
the  rapidity  with  which  it  was  brought  about. 

Turning  our  eyes  to  the  channel  of  the  Riviere  Blanche, 
we  found  the  stream  a  seething  mass  of  chocolate  and  black 
mud.  It  came  down  dancing  and  boiling,  a  steaming  cata- 
ract that  had  been  shot  to  the  sea.  In  hardly  more  or  less 
than  three  minutes,  it  had  leaped  its  two  miles  from  the 
crater  to  the  sea,  which  it  entered  with  what  seemed  to  be  a 
vertical  wall.  Its  surface  rose  and  fell  in  angry  billows,  and 
great  vertical  jets  were  tumbled  out  of  it  like  fairy  geysers. 
We  could  hardly  convince  ourselves  that  this  raging  and 
burning  mass,  roaring  in  its  fury,  and  turning  the  sea  into 
angry  eddies,  could  be  the  same  water  which  we  had  so 
leisurely  followed  for  three-quarters  of  a  mile  on  a  bank  that 
was  now  no  longer  visible. 

I  think  it  beyond  question  that  the  increased  volume 
and  change  in  the  character  of  the  water  of  the  Riviere 
Blanche  were  directly  the  result  of  a  discharge  of  mud  or 
water  from  the  volcano.  There  was  no  rain  of  consequence 
that  could  have  been  thought  to  be  responsible  for  this 
condition,  nor  was  the  volcano  itself  capped  with  any 
particularly  heavy  resting  cloud,  a  strong  southerly  wind 
dressing  the  mountain  to  the  north.  We  found  later  in 
the  day  that  the  Riviere  Seche  was  also  running  with  hot 
mud. 

The  eruption  which  came  thus  suddenly  was  evidently 
the  prelude  to  that  of  the  day  following,  when  certain  feat- 


204  CLOUDS   OF   PASSAGE 

ures,  like  that  of  the  great  rolling  black  cloud,  were  pre- 
sented which  were  not  developed  in  the  earlier  affair.  It 
was  a  magnificent  demonstration  of  the  power  that  remained 
with  Mont  Pelee,  and  its  effect  was  not  calculated  to  give 
comfort  to  those  who  had  persuaded  themselves,  contrary 
perhaps  to  their  own  feelings,  to  believe  that  there  was 
nothing  more  to  fear  from  the  volcano.  But  Martinique 
had  been  favored  this  time.  The  black  cloud,  which  had 
merely  left  a  shadow  to  follow  its  swift  flight  across  the 
island,  dropped  its  ashes  on  St.  Lucia,  and  veiled  its  land- 
scape with  the  darkness  of  night.  At  one  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon  the  royal  mail  steamer  entered  the  port  of  Cas- 
tries with  its  search-lights  directing  the  course. 

Before  making  this  survey  of  the  Riviere  Blanche  flow 
we  had  landed  at  Precheur,  the  town  which  had  first  felt 
the  overpowering  gloom  of  the  impending  catastrophe  of 
May  8,  and  whose  heart  had  been  eaten  out  by  torrents  of 
rock  and  boulder.  For  several  days  before  the  destruction 
of  Saint  Pierre  many  of  its  inhabitants  had  fled  thither, 
thinking  to  secure  a  safer  refuge  in  the  larger  city.  Its  own 
atmosphere  had  been  blacked  with  the  falling  ashes,  and 
made  poisonous  with  the  vapor  of  sulphur.  The  Precheur 
River  had  risen  over  its  banks,  swept  off  scores  of  habita- 
tions, and  deluged  the  city  with  acres  of  boulders.  The 
settlement  practically  ceased  to  exist.  Most  of  the  destruc- 
tion had,  indeed,  been  accomplished  before  the  event  which 
wrecked  the  city  that  was  sending  out  aid. 

The  following  correspondence  published  as  a  letter  from 
M.  Duno-Emile  Josse,  and  appearing  in  the  issue  of  Les 


A    DELUGE   OF    BOULDERS 
Basse- Pointe,  May  29,  1902 


CLOUDS   OF   PASSAGE  205 

Colonies  for  April  26,  gives  a  vivid   picture  of  the  first 
coming  of  the  storm  : 

GRAND-FONDS    (PRECHEUR),  April   25,  1902. 

The  Editor  of  Les  Colonies, — 

Permit  me  to  ask  a  column  of  jour  esteemed  journal  in  which 
to  recite  to  the  public  a  curious  phenomenon  which  has  surprised  the 
inhabitants  of  our  quarter  of  Mont  Pelee. 

Since  more  than  three  months  we  have  felt  the  odor  of  sulphur 
which  has  caused  considerable  disquietude  with  the  inhabitants,  and 
finally  led  to  the  recognition  that  it  came  from  the  Soufriere.  It 
increased  steadily  in  force  and  quantity,  and  threw  us  into  great  fear, 
as  the  older  inhabitants  well  recalled  the  Soufriere  in  the  eruption  of 
1852  [1851].  In  fact,  at  about  eight  o'clock  of  Wednesday  morning, 
April  23,  the  earth  trembled  with  a  sufficiently  severe  shock.  Yester- 
day, the  25th,  at  about  the  same  time,  it  was  noted  that  the  atmos- 
phere was  darkening,  and  almost  immediately  it  turned  as  if  into  an 
eclipse  of  the  sun,  accompanied  by  a  deep  growling  (grondement).  .  .  . 
All  of  a  sudden,  a  loud  detonation,  like  the  firing  of  a  cannon,  was 
heard ;  the  sky  appeared  to  be  in  places  on  fire,  and  there  was  a 
continuous  fall  of  fine  and  white  ashes  which  the  volcano  was  vomit- 
ing out,  and  which  spread  more  particularly  over  the  Grande-Savane, 
Grand-Fonds,  Bois-Lezard,  and  Gros-Morne.  These  ashes  were  so 
abundant  that  at  two  metres  distance  people  were  unable  to  dis- 
tinguish one  another. 

The  affrighted  inhabitants,  snatching  with  them  their  children 
and  valuables,  ran  bewildered,  as  if  stricken  with  blindness,  to  the 
right  and  to  the  left,  returning  to  their  houses,  crying,  praying,  and 
at  the  same  time  asking  assistance  from  near  neighbors,  who,  them- 
selves paralyzed  by  fear,  were  unable  to  respond  to  the  appeals  of 
their  co-citizens.  This  condition  remained  for  over  an  hour  before  a 
calm  again  settled.  The  rain  of  ashes  lasted  for  about  two  hours. 

Unfortunately  [in  an  effort  to  reach  the  Soufriere]  as  we  came 
within  a  certain  distance  of  it,  we  were  obliged  to  return.  We  were 


206  CLOUDS   OF   PASSAGE 

in  face  of  a  steam-cloud  that  could  be  likened  to  that  of  several  high- 
pressure  furnaces  [hauts  fourneaux~]  united,  and  which  was  in  part 
white,  in  other  parts  black. 

DUNO-EMILE  JOSSE. 

Our  visit  to  Precheur  on  June  5  was  to  a  deserted 
settlement.  A  handful  of  people  remained,  to  guard  and 
watch  over  the  few  houses  that  persisted  along  the  ocean 
front,  away  from  the  distributing  course  of  the  Riviere. 
Mud  and  boulders  lay  three  and  four  feet  deep  over  the 
floors  of  habitations  that  still  carried  their  walls  and  roofs, 
or  clustered  about  tree-trunks  and  bushes  that  formed  part 
of  the  square  and  of  the  savane.  The  church  rests  with 
only  its  half  on  solid  ground.  We  went  to  the  old  bed  of 
the  Precheur,  and  found  its  course  occupied  by  a  huge 
tongue  of  land  packed  on  its  surface  with  a  wilderness  of 
giant  rock-boulders.  The  sight  was  an  astonishing  one. 
Far  up  in  the  line  of  the  former  meadows  were  acres  upon 
acres  of  strewn  rock,  packed  like  cobble-stones  in  a  street- 
paving.  One  could  say  that  nearly  all  the  boulders  were 
large — many  of  them  five  feet  and  considerably  more  in 
greatest  diameter,  others  measuring  eight  and  ten  feet.  I 
observed  several  that  were  twelve  feet  in  length.  With 
few  exceptions,  all  had  rounded  contours,  a  character  im- 
pressed upon  them  by  ancient  erosions;  and  the  greater 
number  were  encased  in  a  heavy  coating  of  dried  mud,  two 
or  three  inches  in  thickness.  The  material  was  chiefly 
andesite  and  basalt  or  diorite. 

We  know  that  this  rock  avalanche  was  brought  down 
by  the  stream  from  the  flank  of  the  volcano,  but  from  what 


CLOUDS   OF   PASSAGE  207 

precise  form  of  deposit  ?  Before  this  I  had  been  at  Basse- 
Pointe  and  noted  nearly  the  same  conditions — a  town,  the 
greater  part  of  which  had  been  annihilated  by  its  inun- 
dating torrent  of  boulders;  and  later,  on  August  27,  I 
studied  the  effects  of  the  flood- waters  of  the  Falaise,  im- 
mediately above  the  confluence  of  that  stream  with  the 
Capot.  In  a  flow  of  hardly  three  miles,  possibly  consider- 
ably less,  the  stream  had  brought  down  a  veritable  wilder- 
ness of  giant  rounded  and  planed  boulders.  I  determined 
the  position  of  high-flood  to  have  been  thirty-five  feet  or 
more  above  the  normal  level  of  the  stream.  A  large 
boulder  was  at  this  time  still  lodged  in  the  crown  of  a  tree 
standing  at  the  mouth  of  the  Capot.  A  broad  flood-plain 
had  been  excavated  since  my  earlier  visit,  and  great  em- 
bankments were  built  up  to  passing  levels  of  the  water. 
A  truly  wonderful  side-piece  to  the  phenomena  of  Pelee ! 


XIV 
A   SECOND   VISIT   TO   MARTINIQUE 

I  VISITED  Martinique  for  the  second  time  in  the  latter 
days  of  August,  and  found  a  greatly  improved  local  condi- 
tion then  existing.  The  large  number  of  refugees  who  had 
been  quartered  and  fed  in  Fort-de-France  were  back  in 
their  homes  in  Morne  Rouge,  Ajoupa-Bouillon,  Grande- 
Riviere  and  Macouba,  and  but  a  lingering  few  remained 
behind.  The  repatriation  of  the  deserted  country  had  been 
ordered  by  the  government,  and  the  government  had  been 
advised  by  a  scientific  commission.  It  is  true  that  a  violent 
eruption  of  Pelee  had  taken  place  as  late  as  July  9,  but 
this  had  now  been  passed  by  more  than  a  month,  and  even 
at  the  time  of  its  coming  it  brought  little  anxiety  to  the 
inhabitants.  Those  who  before  had  been  most  frightened 
were  eloquent  in  their  description  of  the  wonderful  electric 
displays,  while  the  phenomena  of  eruptions  generally  were 
being  discussed  with  absolute  sang-froid  and  had  come  to 
be  regarded  by  many  as  curiosities  of  nature,  to  be  studied 
and  admired,  rather  than  of  necessity  to  be  feared. 

The  streets  had  much  life  returned  to  them,  the  service 
in  the  hotels  had  been  improved,  and  nearly  all  the  visiting 
foreigners  had  left  for  distant  shores.  A  new  Governor  had 
been  installed  in  office,  and  the  Government  House  was 
busy  with  officials,  couriers  and  attendants  of  all  kinds.  A 
new  journal,  borrowing  the  name  of  La  Golonie  from  its 


A  SECOND   VISIT  TO   MAKTINIQUE  209 

unfortunate  predecessor  in  Saint  Pierre,  Les  Colonies,  and 
appearing  three  or  four  times  a  week,  had  been  established. 

The  battle  of  politics  was  again  being  hotly  waged,  and 
with  the  same  intensity  and  personal  feeling  as  at  the  time 
of  the  destruction  of  Saint  Pierre.  It  seemed  as  if  the 
lesson  of  the  volcano  had  already  been  entirely  forgotten. 

I  took  my  quarters,  as  before,  at  the  Hotel  Ivanes,  over- 
looking the  Savane.  Great  changes  had  been  reported  from 
Saint  Pierre.  The  streets  were  represented  to  be  largely 
filled  up  with  ash  and  lapilli,  and  the  walls  hardly  recog- 
nizable, having  rotted  and  fallen.  Going  out  the  following 
day,  I  did  not  find  the  change  nearly  so  marked  as  it  had 
been  reported,  though  a  few  of  the  old  landmarks  were  with 
difficulty  recognizable.  Lapilli  and  ash  had  fallen  in  con- 
siderable quantity,  so  that  many  of  the  older  rubble-heaps 
were  masked,  and  the  streets  levelled  out  into  passable  road- 
ways. The  Rue  Victor  Hugo  was  open  to  wagons  over 
part  of  its  course  and  was  being  travelled  by  a  cart  at  the 
time  of  my  visit.  The  ash-covering  had  deepened  in  places 
to  four  and  five  feet,  and  the  surface  was  almost  everywhere 
made  up  of  loosely  aggregated  lapilli. 

Rains,  excavations  and  lootings  had  exposed  many  ob- 
jects that  had  before  been  buried,  and  skeletons,  or  parts 
of  skeletons,  were  freely  lying  about.  We  found  many 
skulls  scattered  over  the  Place  Bertin  and  in  the  avenues 
leading  out  from  that  section  of  the  city.  The  northern 
part  of  the  Centre  or  Mouittage  was  heavily  cloaked  in  ash. 
At  a  few  places  some  few  signs  of  a  systematic  excava- 
tion after  treasure  were  noticeable,  but  in  general  the  aspect 

14 


210  A  SECOND   VISIT  TO  MAETINIQUE 

of  the  destroyed  city  was  the  same  as  when  I  had  left  it, 
except  that  here  and  there  patches  of  green  were  beginning 
to  appear,  and  clumps  of  new  banana-trees  and  cane,  im- 
planted upon  the  old  gardens  or  the  decay  of  roof-tops,  had 
risen  to  three  and  four  feet,  and  other  bits  of  vegetation 
were  noticed  elsewhere.  It  was  evident  that,  left  to  itself, 
the  desert  would  soon  be  covered  by  tropical  vegetation.  I 
do  not  think  it  can  be  disputed,  despite  some  seemingly  con- 
tradictory analyses  that  have  been  made  or  reported,  that 
the  ash  contains  much  fertilizing  principle,  and  was  wholly 
to  the  advantage  of  vegetable  growth.  In  the  interior  of  the 
island  we  found  the  vegetation  surpassingly  rich  and  ver- 
dant, and  this  was  particularly  noticeable  in  the  districts  of 
ash-fall,  so  much  so  as  to  attract  the  general  attention  of 
the  cane-growers.  On  the  lower  flanks  of  Pelee  itself  the 
cindered  and  burnt  forest  was  breaking  out  into  brilliant 
green. 

On  Sunday,  August  24,  Fort-de-France  had  its  first 
earthquake.  It  came  at  nine-twenty  in  the  morning  and 
caused  considerable  consternation.  The  city  had  thus  far 
been  free  from  this  form  of  disturbance,  and  not  even  on 
the  fatal  8th  of  May  did  it  experience  a  shock.  This  first 
manifestation  of  seismic  activity  very  properly  brought  a 
new  fear  to  the  inhabitants  and  for  a  moment  placed  politics 
in  the  background.  Clocks  had  stopped,  tables  had  tilted, 
and  doors  had  opened ;  crockery  here  and  there  fell  from 
shelving,  and  ceilings  swayed  as  if  suspended  in  free  air. 
The  evidence  pointed  to  a  markedly  horizontal  concussion, 
but  no  one  seemed  able  to  distinctly  locate  the  quarter  of 


A   SECOND   VISIT  TO   MAETINIQUE  211 

first  impact.  The  Meteorological  Observatory  of  Fort-de- 
France  registered  the  oscillations  as  northwest  to  southeast, 
with  a  total  duration  of  twenty  seconds.  I  was  at  the  time 
in  Carbet,  just  south  of  Saint  Pierre,  and  experienced 
nothing ;  and  so  far  as  I  know,  no  one  in  Carbet  felt  more 
or  knew  until  long  afterwards  that  an  earthquake  had  taken 
place.  Whether  this  earthquake  was  in  any  way  associated 
with  the  renewed  activity  of  Mont  Pelee,  which  developed 
shortly  after,  can  hardly  be  told,  although  this  condition 
of  dependence  naturally  suggests  itself.  The  weather  at 
the  time  of  the  occurrence  was  superb,  and  the  barometer 
indicated  no  disturbance. 

I  had  with  me  on  this  day  a  small  party  assisting  in  the 
study  of  the  southwestern  slope  of  Pelee.  My  purpose  was 
to  determine  accurately  the  positions  of  the  parts  of  the 
mountain  as  they  had  been  known  before  the  May  cata- 
clysm, and  to  follow  the  development  of  the  newly-formed 
fragmental  cone,  which  had  grown  to  prodigious  dimensions. 
For  the  accomplishment  of  this  purpose  I  had  planned  an 
ascent  quite  to  the  summit  of  the  volcano,  but  we  were 
baffled  by  the  deep  gorge  of  the  Riviere  Seche,  which  had 
opened  considerably,  and  whose  nearly  vertical  sides  seemed 
to  present  an  impassable  barrier.  Our  course  was  over  the 
gentle  ash-slope  that  forms  the  water-parting  between  the 
Rivieres  Seche  and  Des  Peres,  and  continues  in  line  with 
the  southeastern  wall  of  the  crater.  Much  new  vegetation 
had  grown  out  from  it. 

We  reached  at  our  farthest  point  an  elevation  of  ap- 
proximately sixteen  hundred  feet,  or  two  hundred  feet 


212  A   SECOND   VISIT  TO   MAETINIQUE 

above  the  ridge-line  of  Morne  Rouge.  The  crater,  whose 
lower  lip  was  still  six  hundred  or  seven  hundred  feet  above 
us,  opened  out  in  our  direction,  and  gave  us  a  splendid 
opportunity  to  observe  the  contours  and  development  of  the 
active  cone  that  was  implanted  upon  its  basal  floor.  The 
summit  of  this  cone,  which  was  smoking  in  the  fashion  of  a 
factory  or  locomotive  chimney,  rose  apparently  fully  one 
hundred  and  fifty  to  two  hundred  feet  above  the  finger- 
pinnacle  of  the  Ti-Bolhommes,  and  completely  obscured, 
from  our  side,  the  Morne  de  La  Croix.  I  should  say  that 
it  rose  at  the  time  to  the  full  height  of  the  mountain. 
Great  boulders  were  racing  down  its  slope,  and  trailing 
clouds  of  ash-dust  after  them,  but  there  were  no  continuous 
outflows,  whether  of  mud  or  lava. 

The  volcano  was  not  particularly  active  when  we  came 
to  our  final  point,  although  puffs  of  steam  were  issuing 
freely  from  the  walls  of  the  cone.  No  eruption  was  notice- 
able coming  from  the  floor  of  the  crater.  Before  an  hour 
had  passed,  however,  angry  ash-clouds  began  to  blow  up 
from  below,  following  one  another  in  rapid  succession,  and 
all  passing  off  northwestward  with  the  wind.  For  two 
hours  or  more  they  continued  to  rise,  steadily  increasing  in 
intensity,  and  unfolding  in  beautiful,  cauliflower  masses. 
They  shot  out  from  the  crater  at  moderately  low  angles,  but 
with  great  force,  and  before  long  the  summit  of  the  moun- 
tain, northward  of  where  we  stood,  was  shrouded  in  a 
chaotic  mass  of  floating  and  shifting  vapor.  The  quantity 
of  ash  carried  was  very  large,  and  the  clouds  were  forbid- 
dingly dark  in  color — red,  brown  and  almost  black.  At 


A   SECOND   VISIT  TO   MAETINIQUE  213 

this  time  the  summit  vent  was  also  blowing  up  with  vigor 
and  it  gave  us  a  splendid  opportunity  to  observe  the  courses 
of  the  two  forms  of  eruption,  whose  relations  have  already 
been  discussed  in  an  earlier  chapter. 

The  illustrations  which  follow,  reproductions  from  a 
series  of  photographs  which  were  taken  at  intervals  of  a 
minute  and  less,  vividly  portray  the  developing  eruption — 
perhaps  more  rapidly  and  consecutively  than  has  ever  be- 
fore been  possible  for  an  eruption  of  magnitude.  The 
scene  of  awe-inspiring  grandeur  which  they  depict  is  in- 
describable. 

Failing  to  reach  the  summit  of  the  volcano  from  the 
side  of  Saint  Pierre,  I  again  moved  over  to  the  northeast, 
the  side  whence  the  earlier  ascents  were  made,  and  once 
more  imposed  myself  upon  the  open-hearted  hospitality  of 
our  friends  of  Assier  and  Vive. 

The  wheels  of  the  usines  were  again  working,  and  the 
great  high  chimneys  were  proudly  curling  their  smoke  over 
the  verdant  greens  of  meadow-land  and  cane.  The  day 
after  my  arrival,  I  went  over  with  the  representing  Maire 
of  Ajoupa-Bouillon,  M.  Kloss,  to  inspect  the  large  cacao 
estates  of  that  district,  and  to  ascertain,  if  possible,  the 
nature  of  the  so-called  Trianon  crater  in  the  Falaise,  a 
short  distance  beyond,  at  the  foot  of  Mont  Calebasse. 
Much  has  been  written  about  this  crater  and  its  explo- 
sions. I  had  described  it  also,*  and  characterized  the 
eruptions  coming  from  it  as  being  of  the  true  crateral  type. 

*  McClure's  Magazine,  August,  1902. 


214  A   SECOND   VISIT  TO   MAETINIQUE 

When  my  observations  were  made  I  was  not  near  enough  to 
clearly  ascertain  its  features,  and  relied  for  my  determination 
largely  upon  the  observations  of  others,  those  who  had  been 
quite  up  to  it,  or,  at  least,  looked  in.  A  closer  examination 
of  the  gorge  at  a  time  when  it  was  entirely  free  from  vapor, 
and  with  the  assistance  of  one  who  well  knew  its  topo- 
graphic features  before  the  great  eruption,  leads  me  very 
strongly  to  doubt  the  crateral  origin  of  the  outbursts — a 
doubt  which  has  already  been  expressed  by  Lacroix  and 
others.  Most  of  the  topography  of  the  gorge  as  it  now 
exists  I  am  positively  assured  existed  long  before  May  8, 
and  some  or  all  of  the  forbidding  caldron-like  holes  at  the 
head  of  the  cirque  are  recognized  as  part  of  the  old  features. 
While  it  is  not  impossible  that  minor  craterlets  may  have 
existed  in  the  upper  gorge  of  the  Falaise,  just  as  they  did 
in  the  side  ravine  of  the  Riviere  Claire  in  August,  1851,  I 
prefer  to  believe  that  the  explosions  that  I  and  others 
noticed  as  coming  from  the  gorge,  and  which  I  have 
likened  to  puffs  from  locomotive  chimneys,  were  due  to  a 
secondary  forcing  of  steam  from  accumulated  masses  of  hot 
ashes  and  cinders  to  which  surface  water  in  some  way  or 
another  had  gained  access.  At  any  rate,  it  is  a  very  sus- 
picious circumstance  that  during  the  active  period  of  the 
volcano  in  the  latter  part  of  August  and  early  September 
the  Falaise  should  have  remained  perfectly  quiet,  whereas 
the  Precheur  and  the  Grande  Riviere,  over  whose  bed  lapilli 
and  much  hot  ash  had  been  deposited,  were  running  wildly 
with  steam. 

Immediately   after    my   return    from    the    Trianon    I 


A   SECOND   VISIT  TO   MAETINIQUE  215 

planned  for  the  ascent  of  Pelee,  which  was  accomplished 
on  the  30th  (August),  on  the  evening  of  which  day  the 
volcano  broke  into  a  paroxysm  of  wrath,  and  destroyed 
much  of  the  beautiful  country  which  I  had  first  travelled 
over.  Little  did  we  imagine,  as  we  wandered  through  the 
dense  thicket  of  forty  thousand  cacao  plants,  as  we  brushed 
aside  the  hanging  vines  and  creepers  of  the  gorge  of  the 
Little  Capot,  that  before  four  days  were  to  pass  a  gray 
desolation  would  again  sweep  over  the  landscape — that  the 
harvest  of  death  would  so  soon  be  gathered  from  the  living 
world.  It  so  came  to  pass ;  and  even  on  that  very  night 
the  red  fire-glow  of  the  volcano  was  seen  playing  on  the 
crown. 


XV 
BATTLING  WITH  PELEE 

THROUGHOUT  the  whole  of  Friday,  August  29,  Pelee 
kept  up  a  continuous  growl.  The  sound  came  to  us  like 
the  rumbling  of  wagons  crossing  a  bridge,  and  at  times  like 
distant  thunder.  M.  Louis  des  Grottes,  our  host  at  the 
Habitation  Leyritz,  where  we  had  been  installed  the  evening 
before,  felt  uneasy,  and  thought  that  many  days  might 
elapse  before  an  ascent  of  the  mountain  could  properly  be 
attempted.  On  the  evening  of  Monday  preceding  there  had 
been  a  wonderful  exhibition  of  volcanic  pyrotechnics,  and 
everybody  spoke  of  the  great  "  flames"  that  were  seen  to 
shoot  out  from  the  crater,  of  the  volcanic  corona  and  of 
scintillant  stars ;  and  since  then  the  volcano  had  been  con- 
tinually in  unrest.  Refugees  were  seeking  the  roads  at  all 
points,  and  the  north  of  the  island  was  once  more  in  the 
condition  that  marked  the  early  days  of  May.  The  Habita- 
tion Leyritz  lies  on  the  northeastern  foot  of  Mont  Pelee,  at 
an  elevation  of  about  five  hundred  feet  above  the  sea,  and  I 
had  selected  it,  on  the  invitation  of  M.  des  Grottes,  as  a  base 
of  operations  alternative  to  Ajoupa-Bouillon  or  Morne  Balai, 
it  being  more  closely  approached  to  the  volcano  than  either 
Assier  or  Vive.  Its  position  is  delightfully  in  the  path  of 
the  ocean  breezes,  and  its  stately  cocoa-palms  are  only 
four  miles  distant,  a  vol  d'oiseau,  from  the  active  crater  of 
the  volcano.  When  we  arrived  there  shortly  before  sun- 

216 


BATTLING   WITH   PELEE  217 

set  the  hour  of  rest  had  already  been  proclaimed  to  the 
workers  on  the  estate,  and  inquisitive  groups  of  coolies  and 
dark  Creoles  lingered  and  loitered  about,  some  chanting  the 
evening  hymn.  The  little  Martinique  blackbirds  whistled 
out  their  beautiful  and  mellow  notes  until  late  in  the  even- 
ing, and  after  that,  except  for  the  roar  of  the  volcano,  the 
"  silence  of  night"  was  left  to  the  minstrelsy  of  the  tree- 
toads. 

We  were  up  some  time  before  the  rising  sun,  and  saw 
the  day  break  fair,  with  a  gentle  breeze  sweeping  over  the 
tops  of  the  nodding  cane.  A  few  bad  clouds  were  chasing 
after  the  eastern  horizon,  and  others  hung  over  the  black 
peaks  of  Carbet,  but  they  went  the  right  way  for  us,  and 
they  augured  well.  The  difficulties  that  attend  starting  in 
the  tropics  delayed  our  departure  until  after  six  o'clock,  an 
hour  that  seemed  early  enough  for  the  kind  of  day  that 
promised.  An  hour  before  that  time  it  was  still  dark.  At 
Morne  Balai,  which  we  reached  in  half  an  hour,  my  little 
party,  consisting  of  Julian  Cochrane  and  myself,  with  three 
foot  attendants,  was  joined  by  seven  volunteers,  who  felt 
that  the  spirit  of  the  volcano  had  been  controlled  by  us, 
and  believed  that  they  could  courageously  follow  in  our 
footsteps.  One  of  these  I  had  well  known  from  my  earlier 
ascents,  and  he  stood  as  prophet  and  informant  to  the 
others,  basing  his  superiority  upon  a  very  fragmentary 
knowledge  of  English.  Our  purpose  to  study  the  great 
cone  that  had  so  rapidly  built  itself  up  in  the  heart  of  the 
crater  was  perhaps  unknown  to  the  joining  party,  but  they 
held  their  courage  well  throughout  the  greater  part  of  the 


218  BATTLING   WITH   PELEE 

day.  Alas !  poor  souls,  they  little  expected  that  the  tongue 
of  the  fiery  dragon  would  visit  their  homes  ere  night  had 
fairly  fallen,  and  bring  sorrow  and  death  to  the  heart  of  a 
peaceful  and  quiet-loving  community.  When  I  last  rode 
through  the  garden-lanes  of  Morne  Balai  everything  was 
deserted — the  gardens  were  empty  and  the  doors  of  the 
thatched  cottages  closed.  New  ashes  had  fallen  since  the 
day  of  Saint  Pierre,  and  the  inhabitants  lacked  the  courage 
to  remain.  Life  had  now  come  back  to  the  village,  and 
how  beautiful  this  morning  were  the  copses  of  banana,  of 
palm  and  breadfruit,  the  hedge-rows,  and  the  great  blazing 
blossoms  of  the  hibiscus  !  A  more  charming  village  scene 
could  hardly  be  found. 

Our  course  up  Pelee  was  from  this  point  the  same  that  I 
had  taken  on  my  previous  ascents,  over  the  easy  arete  that 
forms  the  central  eastern  ray  of  the  volcano,  and  lies  a  little 
northward  of  the  ravine  of  the  Falaise.  The  conditions  of 
the  ascent  on  this  day  were  surprisingly  favorable,  and  we 
were  able  to  make  use  of  our  animals  up  to  a  height  of 
nearly  two  thousand  three  hundred  feet.  A  light  growth  of 
grass  had  begun  to  cover  the  arid  slope  of  ash  and  cinder, 
and  the  blackened  forest  of  the  ravine  slopes  was  also 
touched  on  the  crown  with  green.  The  beautiful  tree-ferns, 
more  particularly,  gave  evidence  of  this  new  life,  and  they 
promised  to  restore  in  a  short  time  to  Mont  Pelee  that 
verdure  for  which  the  mountain  had  been  dear  to  the  Mar- 
tiniquians.  It  was  evident  that  the  burned  forest  was  not 
absolutely  dead,  and  its  greens  were  already  being  picked 
by  troops  of  blackbirds,  fly-catchers,  and  the  hirondelle- 


UNI 


BATTLING   WITH   PELEE  219 

mouche.  Myriads  of  green  and  green-and-black  caterpillars 
were  cropping  the  new  vegetation.  They  had  found  a  com- 
fortable home  in  this  newly  regenerated  upper  world,  and 
were  making  the  best  of  their  time.  It  was  evident  that 
the  volcano  had  blown  to  them  a  good  wind.  Such  sudden 
visitations  of  insects  to  recovering  volcanic  regions  have 
been  noted  before,  and  have  brought  many  problems  to  the 
entomologist  which  still  await  solution. 

We  left  our  animals  shortly  after  eight  o'clock,  and  at  that 
time  the  volcano  was  raging.  The  steam-cloud  roared  out 
of  a  seething  furnace  and  swept  the  summit  from  our  view. 
Back  of  us  dark-blue  shadows  were  checkering  the  receding 
landscape,  but  the  ocean  was  the  blue  and  green  of  the 
coral  reef,  and  lovely  Morne  Rouge  was  bathed  in  warm 
sunshine.  Nearer  to  us  Ajoupa-Bouillon,  slumbering  in 
sunlight  and  shadow,  lay  almost  at  our  feet.  We  picked 
our  way  leisurely  up  the  cinder  slope,  but  it  was  evident 
that  ejected  bombs  had  recently  scarred  its  surface,  for 
there  were  furrows  and  troughs  and  great  boulders  where 
none  had  been  before.  We  also  noted  a  number  of  the 
puzzling  crater-like  shallow  pits  or  hollows  which  some 
have  thought  to  associate  with  falling  rocks,  others  with 
earthquake  phenomena.  In  a  few  minutes  more  we  were 
in  the  storm-cloud,  with  only  bits  of  landscape  to  fol- 
low us  as  companions.  The  great  knob  of  Morne  Jacob 
appeared  and  disappeared,  and  at  intervals  we  could  glance 
into  the  deep  gorges  on  either  side  of  us,  but  of  the  summit 
of  the  mountain  there  was  nothing.  Our  Martinique  asso- 
ciates were  uneasy,  for  from  the  invisible  gray  ahead  came 


220  BATTLING   WITH   PELEE 

the  terrific  voice  of  the  volcano.  There  were  no  accentu- 
ated detonations,  but  a  continuous  roar  that  was  simply 
appalling.  I  thought  on  my  previous  ascent  to  have  heard 
something,  but  this  time  it  was  the  old  sound  multiplied 
a  hundred-fold.  No  words  can  describe  it.  Were  it  pos- 
sible to  unite  all  the  furnaces  of  the  globe  into  a  single 
one,  and  to  simultaneously  let  loose  their  blasts  of  steam,  it 
does  not  seem  to  me  that  such  a  sound  could  be  produced. 
It  was  not  loud  in  the  sense  of  a  peal  of  thunder,  but  of 
fiery  and  tempestuous  storm,  that  could  best  be  compared 
with  the  blowing  of  the  ocean's  wind  through  the  shrouds 
of  a  full-rigged  ship,  only  ten  times  that.  The  mountain 
fairly  quivered  under  its  work,  and  it  was  perhaps  not 
wholly  discreditable  that  some  of  us  should  have  felt  any- 
thing but  comfortable. 

Where  was  all  this  ?  we  asked  ourselves.  In  front  of  us, 
but  invisible.  My  aneroid  gave  for  our  elevation  three 
thousand  four  hundred  feet — therefore  we  were  only  six 
hundred  feet  below  the  summit-level  which  marked  the 
position  of  the  Lac  des  Palmistes.  There  appeared  to  be 
no  barometric  disturbance,  nor  was  the  compass-needle 
affected.  A  whistling  bomb  flew  past  us  at  this  time,  but  it 
left  but  a  comet's  train  in  our  ears,  for  it  could  not  be  seen. 
We  took  it  first  for  a  flying  bird,  but  its  course  was  soon 
followed  by  another,  and  then  came  the  dull  thud  of  its 
explosion  in  air.  Deep  down  the  ravine  we  could  hear 
the  scattered  parts  tumbling,  sliding  and  crackling.  We 
could  no  longer  deceive  ourselves  as  to  the  character 
of  the  struggle  into  which  we  had  entered.  The  ominous 


BATTLING   WITH   PELEE  221 

clicks  in  the  air  told  us  what  we  might  at  any  moment 
expect. 

We  moved  up  slowly,  hardly  more  than  a  few  paces  at 
a  time,  but  with  hope  given  to  us  in  the  occasional  rifting 
of  the  clouds.  Time  and  time  again  the  summit  crest  ap- 
peared beneath  the  rolling  vapors,  and  it  really  seemed  as 


Photo.  Heilprin 

THE    BOMB-SCARRED   SLOPE   OF    PELEE 

if  the  cone,  of  which  we  were  in  search,  would  suddenly 
come  to  view.  When  we  had  reached  about  three  thousand 
eight  hundred  feet  the  fusillade  of  bombs  became  over- 
poweringly  strong,  and  we  were  obliged  to  retreat.  We 
were  in  battle.  The  clouds  had  become  lighter,  and  we 
could  at  times  see  the  bombs  and  boulders  coursing  through 


222  BATTLING   WITH   PELEE 

the  air  in  parabolic  curves  and  straight  lines,  driven  and 
shot  out  as  if  from  a  giant  catapult.  They  whistled  past 
us  on  both  sides,  and  our  position  became  decidedly  uncom- 
fortable ;  many  of  the  fragments  took  almost  direct  paths, 
and  must  have  been  shot  into  their  courses  as  a  result  of 
explosions  taking  place  above  the  summit  of  the  volcano. 
They  flew  by  us  at  close  range.  Descending  perhaps  one 
hundred  feet  lower  on  the  slope,  we  took  shelter  under  a 
somewhat  rolling  knob  and  waited  for  a  possible  cessation 
of  the  fusillade.  A  glance  at  my  men  showed  that  they 
were  thoroughly  frightened,  and  most  of  them  were  making 
quick  tracks  to  a  lower  level.  A  lull  favored  a  further 
effort.  Not  wishing  to  incur  any  responsibility  in  a  call 
for  company  in  what  appeared  to  be  a  rather  hazardous 
enterprise,  I  made  a  second  attempt  by  myself,  keeping 
my  body  as  close  to  the  ground  as  was  possible.  The 
clouds  soon  separated  me  from  my  associates,  and  all  of 
visible  nature  that  was  left  to  me  was  a  patch  of  slope  and 
the  shifting  vapors.  Mr.  Cochrane's  figure  was  the  last  to 
disappear.  The  roar  of  the  volcano  was  terrific — awful 
beyond  description.  It  felt  as  if  the  very  earth  were  being 
sawed  in  two.  In  about  a  quarter  of  an  hour  I  reached  a 
point  just  below  the  summit — the  crest  of  the  old  lake 
basin — which  was  being  heavily  raked  by  the  fire  of  the 
volcano.  I  could  see  no  more  than  before.  Everything 
was  as  if  in  a  surging  sea,  and  neither  the  cone  nor  what 
was  left  of  the  Morne  de  La  Croix  was  visible.  I  crouched 
down  to  the  ground,  but  to  no  purpose.  It  was  useless  to 
remain  longer  in  the  open  fire,  and  I  descended  to  join  my 


BATTLING   WITH   PELEE  223 

associates.  Mr.  Cochrane  was  near  at  hand,  working  his 
camera  and  seemingly  indifferent  to  the  encircling  storm, 
but  the  negroes  had  gone  far  below,  carrying  our  provisions 
with  them.  I  was  surprised,  indeed,  that  they  should  have 
retained  their  courage  for  so  long  a  time,  for  Pelee  had  been 
unusually  active  for  a  number  of  days,  and  if  men  ever 
feared  anything,  it  was  this  grim  monster  of  Martinique. 
But  most  of  them  had  remembered  my  earlier  ascents,  and 
they  childishly  seemed  to  feel  that  there  was  shelter  in  my 
wake. 

Shortly  before  noon  a  sudden  lifting  of  the  clouds  re- 
vealed the  volcano  in  all  its  majestic  fury.  For  the  first 
time  since  we  reached  its  slopes  were  we  permitted  to  see  its 
steam-column — that  furious,  swirling  mass  ahead  of  us,  tow- 
ering miles  above  the  summit,  and  sweeping  up  in  curls  and 
festoons  of  white,  yellow  and  almost  black.  It  boiled  with 
ash.  The  majestic  cauliflower  clouds  rose  on  all  sides,  join- 
ing with  the  central  column,  and  it  was  evident  that  the 
entire  crater  was  working,  bottom  as  well  as  summit,  and 
with  a  vigor  that  it  would  be  useless  to  attempt  to  describe. 
Higher  and  higher  they  mount,  until  the  whole  is  lost  in 
the  great  leaden  umbrella  which  seemed  to  overspread  the 
whole  earth.  I  estimated  the  diameter  of  the  column  as  it 
left  the  crest  of  the  mountain  to  be  not  less  than  fifteen 
hundred  feet,  and  its  rate  of  ascent  from  one  and  a  half  to 
two  miles  a  minute,  and  considerably  greater  at  the  initial 
moment  of  every  new  eruption.  Great  exploding  puffs 
were  following  one  another  in  rapid  succession,  and  they 
told  the  story  of  what  was  going  on  inside  the  volcano. 


224  BATTLING  WITH   PELEE 

Cochrane  and  I  were  not  the  only  ones  to  be  inspired 
by  this  extraordinary  and  bewildering  spectacle.  Our 
Martinique  men  seemed  equally  overcome  by  a  grandeur 
of  nature,  terrifying  as  it  was  beautiful,  which  they  had  not 
before  seen,  and  of  their  own  accord  initiated  a  new  effort 
to  reach  the  summit.  We  climbed  back  to  our  former  posi- 
tion, but  the  bombardment  was  too  strong  for  us,  and  we 
thought  best  to  desist.  The  prospects  for  study  were  any- 
thing but  promising,  and  it  was  thought  unnecessary  at 
this  time  to  take  further  risks.  Of  our  party  of  twelve 
there  were  now  only  four  left  on  the  upper  slopes  of  the 
volcano,  but  we  still  hoped  for  one  more  chance.  For  a 
half  hour  or  so  we  took  refuge  in  a  hollow  sufficiently  deep 
to  about  clear  our  heads,  and  waited.  But  even  the  pleas- 
ures of  a  mountain  lunch  did  not  quite  make  this  place 
restful,  for  the  bursting  bombs  flew  thick  to  one  side,  and 
we  were  too  eager  to  watch  the  flying  fragments  to  permit 
ourselves  a  free  moment.  Every  scattering  mass  brought 
us  to  our  feet,  only  to  see  and  hear  the  fragments  plunging 
into  the  abyss  that  lay  to  one  side.  Cochrane  and  I  moved 
a  piece  higher  up,  and  then  abandoned  the  effort.  "  Where 
did  this  last  block  burst?"  I  asked  of  my  associate,  and 
before  my  question  was  answered  we  were  spattered  with 
mud  from  head  to  foot  by  a  great  boulder,  hardly  smaller 
than  a  flour-barrel,  which  fell  within  ten  feet  of  us,  or 
less. 

When  we  reached  the  lower  slopes  we  were  covered 
with  ash  and  mud.  For  an  hour  or  more  we  were  nearly 
beneath  the  centre  of  the  great  ash-cloud,  whose  murky 


BATTLING   WITH   PELEE  225 

masses  hung  at  a  dizzy  height  above  us.  Its  mantle-sheet 
carried  darkness  to  Macouba  and  Grande  Riviere,  and  far 
over  Dominica  and  Gaudeloupe  the  black  mass  still  swept 
out  to  sea.  I  believe  that  the  ash-cloud  must  have  been 
fully  six  miles  above  our  heads.  It  rolled  out  a  few  peals 
of  thunder,  but  we  observed  no  flashes  of  lightning.  The 
ash  fell  lightly,  and  coming  mixed  with  water  soon  con- 
solidated into  a  paste.  It  had  the  temperature  of  the 
surrounding  air — was  not  warm.  There  were  no  large 
particles.  The  coarser  material  fell  miles  from  us,  at 
positions  situated  more  nearly  under  the  periphery  of  the 
cloud. 

It  is  singular  that  even  at  the  point  where  I  was  nearest 
to  the  issuing  steam,  a  distance  of  probably  less  than  four 
hundred  feet,  no  marked  atmospheric  disturbance  was  per- 
ceptible, nothing  to  even  remotely  suggest  a  cyclonic  or 
suctional  whirl.  One  could  readily  have  expected  some- 
thing of  this  kind  to  occur.  Nor  do  I  believe  that  there 
was  any  noticeable  elevation  in  the  temperature  of  the  air. 
Unfortunately,  the  single  thermometer  that  I  had  with  me 
had  broken  earlier  in  the  day,  and,  therefore,  my  note  on 
this  point  rests  solely  on  a  personal  impression.  Certainly 
there  was  no  emphasized  change  in  temperature.  I  could 
detect  no  gaseous  emanations,  except,  perhaps,  a  very  feeble 
taint  of  sulphur. 

When  we  again  got  on  the  level  ground  back  of  the 
Habitation  Leyritz  we  were  startled  by  a  most  violent  erup- 
tion from  Pelee,  a  great  shaft  of  steam  and  ash  being  sud- 
denly shot  out  to  a  most  marvellous  height,  perhaps  not  less 

15 


226  BATTLING   WITH   PELEE 

than  five  or  six  miles.  It  went  up  as  a  distinct  column  of 
its  own,  swiftly  distancing  the  other  cloud-masses  by  which 
it  was  enveloped.  It  was  a  prelude  to  the  incidents  of  the 
evening  that  followed. 


THE    RORAIMA    BURNING 


XVI 

A  NIGHT  OF  ILLUMINATION  AND  THE  DESTRUC- 
TION   OF    MOENE    EOUGE    AND 
AJOUPA-BOUILLON 

WE  arrived  at  our  shelter  a  little  before  five  o'clock, 
somewhat  to  the  relief  of  the  household,  who  had  become 
apprehensive  regarding  our  safety.  Early  in  the  evening 
the  big  blaze  from  an  incendiary  fire  announced  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  case  de  bagasse  of  the  Habitation  Pecoul,  but  it 
gave  us  little  concern,  as  our  cane-fields  were  sufficiently 
removed  to  insure  them  from  contact  with  the  flames.  Still, 
M.  des  Grottes  thought  it  advisable  to  examine  the  premises, 
and  he  rode  down  with  his  brother  more,  perhaps,  as  a 
pastime  than  as  a  necessity,  returning  for  a  late  evening 
meal.  While  still  seated  at  the  table,  a  flash  of  lightning 
and  a  dull  thud  told  us  in  an  instant  that  something  was 
happening.  We  were  out  at  once.  This  was  a  few  min- 
utes, perhaps  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  after  nine  o'clock. 
The  volcano  was  still  distantly  growling.  The  heavens 
were  aglow  with  fire,  electric  flashes  of  blinding  intensity 
traversing  the  recesses  of  black  and  purple  clouds,  and 
casting  a  lurid  pallor  over  the  darkness  that  shrouded  the 
world.  Scintillating  stars  burst  forth  like  crackling  fire- 
works, and  serpent  lines  wound  themselves  in  and  out  like 
travelling  wave-crests.  The  spectacle  was  an  extraordinary 
and  terrifying  one,  and  I  confess  that  it  left  an  impression 

227 


228  A   NIGHT   OF   ILLUMINATION 

of  uncomfortable  doubt  in  our  minds  as  to  what  would  be 
the  issue.  One  could  not  but  feel  that  a  tremendous  de- 
struction was  impending. 

The  number  of  forms  in  which  the  illumination  ap- 
peared was  bewildering,  and  I  can  only  recall  a  few  the 
picture  of  which  presented  itself  to  my  eyes  with  precision  : 
short,  straight,  rod-like  lines,  wave-lines,  spirals,  long-armed 
stars,  and  circles  with  star-arms  hanging  off  from  the  bor- 
der like  so  many  tails.  In  addition  to  these  were  the  scin- 
tillant  stars  to  which  reference  has  already  been  made,  and 
the  blinding  flashes  of  normal  or  zig-zag  lightning.  There 
were  no  peals  of  thunder,  but  a  continuous  roar  swept 
through  the  heavens,  mounting  with  crescendos  and  fall- 
ing off  with  alternating,  far-reaching  diminuendos.  Some 
pretend  to  have  heard  a  feeble  crackling,  like  that  which 
is  so  often  heard  in  association  with  an  auroral  display,  but 
I  am  not  sure  that  I  could  record  this  condition,  which 
may  easily  have  existed,  among  my  own  experiences.  The 
flashes  were  bewilderingly  numerous,  and  the  singular  forms 
interwoven  with  one  another  in  such  a  way  as  to  make  local- 
ization difficult.  The  scintillant  stars  alone  appeared  to 
have  a  place  of  their  own,  nearer  the  border  of  the  great 
cloud,  and  perhaps  in  the  highest  parts  of  it.  Directly 
over  the  summit  of  Pelee  there  was  little  to  be  seen.  Who 
is  there  to  tell  us  what  these  peculiar  flashes  are?  Are 
they  electric,  or  are  they  the  flashes  of  burning  gases  ?  It 
would,  probably,  be  easy  to  determine  their  nature  by 
means  of  the  spectroscope,  but  this  form  of  examination  has 
not  yet  been  made.  It  is  certain  that  most  of  them  are 


A   NIGHT   OF   ILLUMINATION  229 

not  connective  discharges,  for  they  run  through,  or  are 
contained  in,  individual  clouds  of  small  dimensions.  The 
phenomena  appear  to  be  identical  with  those  which  were 
noted  to  accompany  the  great  eruption  of  Tarawera,  in  New 
Zealand,  in  1886.20 

As  our  eyes  feasted  upon  this  scene  of  majestic  gran- 
deur, we  almost  lost  sight  of  the  fact  that  ashes  were  falling 
about  us.  A  great  pattering  of  pumice  and  lapilli  had 
ushered  in  the  storm,  and  for  a  while  it  sounded  as  if  we 
were  in  a  tropical  hail-storm.  Only  the  fragments  first 
thrown  were  large,  a  few  an  inch  or  more  in  size,  and  those 
following  were  like  peas  and  lentils,  and  then  like  sand. 
But  even  the  smaller  particles  came  down  with  much  force, 
and  the  flesh  stung  as  it  was  touched  by  them.  They  were 
all  angular  bits  of  andesite  or  trachyte,  white  and  gray  in 
color.  We  were  out  in  our  bared  heads,  but  it  was  soon 
found  necessary  to  protect  them.  The  fall  lasted  somewhat 
over  an  hour,  or  to  nearly  half-past  ten.  All  motion  in 
the  atmosphere  ceased  at  this  time,  and  for  once  the  location 
Leyritz  lost  its  usual  refreshing  coolness.  The  falling  ash 
felt  warm,  but  M.  des  Grottes's  thermometer  failed  to  indi- 
cate anything  special. 

It  was  not  given  to  us  to  close  the  night  quietly.  The 
flashing  sky  above  and  the  falling  ash  had  yet  a  comple- 
ment. For  over  an  hour  the  southwest  was  glowing  fiery 
red,  and  patches  of  lurid  light  moved  themselves  into  the 
black  of  the  volcanic  cloud.  No  flame  was  visible,  but  it 
was  only  too  evident  that  fire  was  devastating  somewhere. 
Morne  Rouge  lay  to  the  same  point  of  the  compass,  and  we 


230  A   NIGHT   OF   ILLUMINATION 

intuitively  asked  ourselves  if  it  could  be  that  town  aflame. 
Ajoupa-Bouillon  lay  a  little  to  one  side,  almost  adjoining  us, 
and  if  it  were  on  fire  we  could  easily  have  seen  the  flames. 
When  we  retired  for  the  night,  M.  des  Grottes  had  decided 
to  desert  the  habitation.  Pelee  was  too  close  to  us,  and  too 
active  to  be  sought  for  as  the  simple  ornament  which 
it  had  been  designated  by  the  Scientific  Commission  of 
1851.  Most  of  the  working  inhabitants  of  the  planta- 
tion had  betaken  themselves  to  the  coast  immediately  after 
the  first  storm  of  the  evening,  terror-stricken  with  the  un- 
ceasing roar  of  the  volcano  and  the  flashing  lightning,  and 
my  own  men  had  joined  them  in  their  mad  flight.  All 
thoughts  of  a  new  exploration  of  the  summit  of  the  volcano 
on  the  morrow  had  vanished.  It  was  not  without  appre- 
hension that  the  great  door  of  the  manse  was  closed  that 
night.  I  did  not  quite  share  M.  des  Grottes's  fears  that 
there  might  be  no  one  in  the  morning  to  open  it,  but  the 
hours  for  rest  were  spent  mainly  in  thinking. 

The  night-air  was  almost  without  breeze,  so  different 
from  what  we  had  had  up  till  now.  I  tossed  around  until 
about  one  o'clock,  sleeping  in  snatches,  but  hardly 
resting.  At  this  time  there  was  another  sharp  pattering 
of  cinders,  and  I  moved  up  to  the  window,  only  to  see 
darkness.  On  another  side  the  sky  was  flashing  bright 
tongues  of  light,  but  I  saw  nothing  of  it,  and  knew  not 
that  it  was  taking  place.  Before  retiring  again  I  had  to 
clear  my  bed  of  ashes,  for  the  covers  and  pillows  were  being 
rapidly  filled,  and  a  new  fall  was  only  just  beginning. 
The  poor  tree-toads,  despite  everything,  were  still  chirping, 


Expl.  Heilprin  Underwood  &  Underwood,  Stereos.  Photo.,  New  York,  Copyright,  1903 

BEFORE   A   SHRINE— MORNE    ROUGE 


A   NIGHT   OF   ILLUMINATION  231 

and  manifestly  to  them  life  was  not  a  burden,  nor  even  a 
piece  of  anxiety.  I  do  not  know  to  what  extent  it  is  true 
that  before  the  eruption  of  May  8  the  animals  of  the  field 
and  forest  gave  signs  of  uneasiness,  and  summarily  left 
their  homes  in  search  of  new  quarters.  Nothing  of  this 
kind  appears  to  have  been  noted  on  this  side,  which  is  in 
itself  not  conclusive  evidence  denying  the  condition  re- 
oorted,  and  I  know  that  on  Sunday  morning  the  blackbirds 
were,  as  usual,  gambolling  about  the  cocoanut  crowns,  and 
sending  out  their  joyful  notes  to  greet  the  rising  sun. 

Before  the  morning  had  yet  broken,  news  reached  us 
that  the  fiery  tongue  of  Pelee  had  carried  death  and  deso- 
lation to  Morne  Balai.  The  flash  of  nine  o'clock,  when  the 
heavens  were  glowing  and  scintillating  with  fire,  was  the 
lumen  that  showed  the  path  to  the  pretty  village  which  we 
had  left  hardly  five  hours  before,  and  from  which  weeping 
messengers  had  now  come  to  ask  for  aid.  I  immediately 
rode  out  with  M.  Edouard  des  Grottes  to  ascertain  the  extent 
of  the  casualties  and  what  in  fact  had  taken  place.  We 
had  hardly  a  mile  to  go,  even  with  the  windings  of  the 
path,  and  were  soon  conducted  to  the  scene  of  the  disaster. 
In  one  of  the  low  thatched  cottages  two  bodies  were  stretched 
out  stiff  in  death,  and  near  by  others  were  lying  groaning 
in  agony  from  the  terrible  burns  they  had  received.  Still 
others,  which  we  did  not  see,  were  in  the  neighboring  cases. 
We  gave  such  comfort  as  reassuring  words  could  offer,  but, 
alas !  of  what  value  are  they  ?  M.  des  Grottes  arranged 
for  the  care  and  removal  of  the  wounded,  and  we  then  left. 
One  of  those  who  had  been  with  me  on  the  mountain  in 


232  A   NIGHT   OF   ILLUMINATION 

the  afternoon  was  a  victim  to  the  volcano's  wrath,  and  his 
body  lay  not  far  from  the  hut  where  we  had  halted  for  a 
few  minutes  for  a  friendly  chat,  and  which  was  now  flat 
with  the  ground.  It  had  tumbled  with  the  volcano's  blast ; 
others  like  it  had  fallen  under  the  weight  of  ash  that  had 
been  showered  upon  them. 

My  parting  from  Morne  Balai  was  a  sad  one.  It  was 
hard  to  realize  that  this  pretty  little  village,  which  appeared 
to  me  so  joyful  a  few  hours  before,  should  now  be  clouded 
in  the  shadow  of  death — death  driven  to  it  by  the  same 
force  whose  enigma  I  was  attempting  to  penetrate.  As  we 
looked  down  upon  it  from  the  slopes  of  Pelee,  it  lay  so 
peacefully  embowered  beneath  its  clumps  of  verdure,  ap- 
parently so  far  from  danger's  door.  Nature  had  turned  her 
hand  and  heart,  but  this  was  only  a  part  of  the  history  of 
the  night  before.  Ajoupa-Bouillon,  Morne  Rouge,  Morne 
Capot,  the  heights  of  Bourdon,  were  wrecked,  or  had  been 
entirely  wiped  out,  and  with  them  two  thousand  more  of 
Martinique's  inhabitants  were  sent  to  their  graves.  On  all 
these  sites  we  had  gazed  in  the  quieter  afternoon ;  we  had 
noted  the  fleeting  cloud-shadows  passing  over  them,  and 
seen  the  smiling  fields  and  forests  that  bound  them  into  one 
vast  sea  of  green.  Desolation  had  swept  all  this  into  gray 
and  black.  The  very  slope  that  we  had  travelled  over  was 
culled  in  the  fiery  blast,  and  wreck  and  ruin  were  every- 
where. Our  own  escape  was,  indeed,  a  very  narrow  one, 
for  the  blast  swept  the  land  to  both  sides  of  us,  and  even 
descended  to  the  rear  of  the  Habitation.  Good  fortune 
much  more  than  management  gave  to  us  our  place  of  refuge. 


A   NIGHT   OF   ILLUMINATION  233 


It  was  only  when  ^we  reached  Vive  that  the  full  extent 
of  the  catastrophe  was  made  known  to  us.  The  great  sugar 
estate  had  once  more  set  her  wheels  moving,  and  from  the 
lofty  chimney  curls  of  smoke  were  again  peacefully  flowing 
over  the  verdant  fields  of  cane.  The  Riviere  Capot,  whose 
debordements  had  been  so  much  feared  and  had  caused  so 
much  damage,  was  no  longer  a  dangerous  stream,  and  confi- 
dence came  to  all  who  felt  that  the  worst  of  Pelee  was  over. 
Its  work  was  thought  to  belong  to  the  south  and  to  the  west, 
and  few  feared,  even  in  the  face  of  the  magnificent  pyro- 
technic display  of  later  days,  that  anything  serious  could 
happen  on  this  side.  Refugees  had  been  returning  by  hun- 
dreds to  their  abandoned  habitations,  and  the  silence  of 
desolation  once  more  woke  to  the  voice  of  the  living. 

In  front  of  the  great  Usine,  when  we  arrived  there 
this  time,  crowds  of  refugees  coming  from  Basse-Pointe, 
Macouba  and  Grande-Riviere,  and  from  minor  hamlets  in 
the  interior,  had  assembled,  and  travelling  parties  were  all 
over  the  roadways.  Afoot  and  on  wagon,  everybody  was 
going,  with  no  one  having  a  good  word  for  the  country. 
Improvised  ambulances  were  being  sent  in  to  Ajoupa- 
Bouillon,  and  since  the  earlier  hours  of  morning  the 
wounded  were  being  brought  out  in  scores  and  sent  down 
to  Grande-  Anse  to  be  placed  under  government  treatment. 
The  good  people  of  the  Usine  were  doing  everything  that 
under  the  circumstances  could  be  done  to  alleviate  the  suf- 
ferings of  those  who  were  still  living,  but,  unfortunately, 
for  many  their  work  came  too  late,  for  they  died  on  the 
roadway.  And  perhaps  it  was  best  that  it  was  so,  for 


234  A   NIGHT   OF   ILLUMINATION 

death  removed  from  the  body  an  agony  that  cannot  be  con- 
ceived, while  the  chance  for  recovery  was  all  but  nil.  Less 
than  four  months  had  elapsed  since  the  catastrophe  of  May 
8  overwhelmed  Saint  Pierre,  and  the  tragedy  was  being 
enacted  over  again. 

M.  Joseph  Clerc  kindly  invited  me  to  join  him  in  a 
survey  of  the  situation  at  Ajoupa-Bouillon,  and  we  rode 
out  almost  immediately  after  my  return  to  Vive.  The 
village  of  Ajoupa-Bouillon  lies  on  the  eastern  foot  of  Mont 
Pelee,  in  a  direct  line  not  more  than  one  mile  from  the 
more  recognized  slope  of  the  volcano,  and  at  elevations 
ranging  from  about  eight  hundred  to  thirteen  hundred 
feet  above  the  sea,  some  extreme  parts  rising  possibly 
higher.  It  is  connected  on  the  inner  side  with  Morne 
Rouge  by  one  of  the  finest  roads  in  the  island,  which  before 
the  catastrophe  of  this  day  was  bordered  by  a  woodland  of 
singular  beauty.  Its  houses  were  mainly  of  wood,  but 
there  were  others  of  a  more  substantial  construction,  and 
nearly  all  had  gardens  of  their  own.  A  graceful  church 
steeple,  still  standing,  rises  up  from  nearly  the  highest  part 
of  the  village.  Four  days  before  this  second  visit  I  had 
come  out  with  the  acting  Mayor  of  the  village,  M.  Kloss,  to 
look  over  his  large  cacao  estates,  and  to  join  in  an  excursion 
to  the  Trianon,  the  site  of  a  former  hospital  camp,  situated 
directly  above  what  had  been  assumed  to  be  a  new  crater  in 
the  gorge  of  the  Falaise.  At  that  time  Ajoupa-Bouillon 
looked  more  attractive  than  I  had  ever  seen  it  before.  The 
vegetation  was  at  its  best,  and  seemed  to  have  profited  by 
the  ash  that  had  been  thrown  over  it  in  the  early  days  of 


A  NIGHT   OF   ILLUMINATION  235 

May.  Not  here  alone,  but  all  over  the  north  this  extreme 
of  "pushing"  fertility  was  noticeable,  and  everybody 
remarked  upon  the  luxuriance  of  growth  which  distin- 
guished field  as  well  as  forest.  To  this  end,  at  least,  of 
adding  fertility  to  the  soil,  the  volcano  may  have  con- 
tributed, and  done  something  to  redeem  its  bad  name. 
To-day,  alas !  much  of  this  had  gone.  In  place  of  field 
and  forest  there  were  desolate  plains,  gray-scarred,  ash- 
covered,  and  bleak  almost  as  the  African  desert.  We 
looked  over  to  the  mountain-heights  and  down  into  the 
valleys  and  gorges,  and  everywhere  the  eye  fell  upon  ruin 
and  desolation.  Only  back  of  us  and  in  the  farther  dis- 
tance was  there  enough  of  verdure  left  to  remind  us  of  the 
past. 

The  force  of  the  destruction  was  extraordinary.  Be- 
fore we  reached  the  main  scene  of  the  catastrophe  the  wreck 
was  already  fully  indicated  in  a  number  of  houses  which 
were  laid  flat  with  the  ground,  and  in  overturned  trees  with 
buttressed  roots  lying  to  the  side  of  the  coming  blast. 
Boards  were  found  completely  penetrated  by  others  that 
had  been  shot  through  them.  It  was  evident  at  a  glance 
that  it  was  the  history  of  Saint  Pierre  over  again.  The 
zone  of  destruction  began  a  short  distance  above  and  be- 
yond the  church,  and  extended  almost  without  interruption, 
so  far  as  we  could  see  from  the  heights,  to  Morne  Rouge. 
Looking  over  to  the  site  of  that  town,  we  saw  before  us 
nothing  but  a  withered  plain,  with  arid  slopes  on  one  side 
of  it,  and  slightly  green  mornes  on  the  other.  Cattle  and 
horses  were  lying  on  their  backs,  with  their  legs  rigidly 


236  A  NIGHT   OF   ILLUMINATION 

extended  into  mid-air.  A  few  more  fortunate  beasts,  with 
raw  flesh  protruding  from  their  tightened  hides,  were 
moving  aimlessly  about,  as  if  dazed  by  the  conditions  that 
now  surrounded  them.  Clear  up  to  the  low  saddle  between 
the  Morne  Jacob  and  the  Calebasse  the  eye  followed  the 
bleak  landscape,  and  it  was  plain  to  see  that  the  tornadic 
blast  had  this  time  lined  its  course  over  this  arete,  instead  of 
confining  itself  to  the  zone  of  the  Riviere  Blanche  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  mountain.  The  first  houses  that  we 
examined  had  simply  collapsed.  They  occupied  their  own 
ground  and  were  merely  a  mass  of  sticks  and  roof  material, 
covering  all  that  the  houses  contained — inmates  probably  as 
well  as  their  belongings.  We  put  our  ears  to  the  ground 
and  to  the  planking,  but  could  hear  no  sound.  Off  on  a 
side-lane  we  passed  a  little  cottage  apparently  untouched 
on  the  exterior,  and  hearing  deep  moaning  we  entered.  A 
poor  woman,  of  perhaps  thirty  years,  was  rolling  in  agony 
in  one  corner  of  a  dark  room,  her  flesh  terribly  burned  and 
hanging  in  places  from  the  bone.  She  called  incessantly 
for  water  to  relieve  her  excoriated  throat,  but  it  could  not 
be  furnished.  M.  Clerc  sent  immediately  for  the  gendarme, 
to  have  her  removed  where  friendly  care  could  be  adminis- 
tered to  her,  but  she  died  shortly  after  our  leaving. 

We  entered  another  case  near  by.  A  dim  taper  illu- 
mined a  nearly  black  interior  sufficiently  to  permit  us  to 
see  a  writhing  figure  being  tended  by  the  hand  of  one  who 
was  left  probably  dearest  to  it.  The  cries  of  pain  were 
heart-rending.  Flies  were  swarming  everywhere  about  the 
place  and  the  odor  was  almost  unbearable,  as  the  precaution 


A  NIGHT   OF   ILLUMINATION  237 

had  been  taken  to  keep  the  door  closed.  A  body,  relieved 
from  anguish,  lay  stiff  in  another  corner.  We  passed  from 
this  to  another  house  and  saw  the  same  picture  repeated. 
In  reply  to  inquiries  put  to  him  by  M.  Clerc,  one  of  the 
inmates,  perhaps  less  terribly  burned  than  some  others, 
stated  that  he  had  been  struck  by  the  hot  blast  at  the  mo- 
ment of  opening  the  door  of  his  case,  which  he  had  done 
assuming  that  the  storm  had  passed.  Instantly  the  fiery 
air  enveloped  him,  and  he  felt  the  sensation  of  choking. 
There  seemed  to  be  no  air  to  breathe.  His  flesh  was  as 
if  baked  and  steamed,  with  raw  red  masses  appearing 
where  there  was  no  longer  skin.  The  clothing  had  re- 
mained untouched.  I  inquired  if  he  had  noted  gas  of  any 
kind.  He  replied  in  the  negative,  except  to  the  extent 
that  a  feeble  sulphurous  odor,  already  appreciable  in  the 
earlier  part  of  the  evening,  could  be  detected.  We  obtained 
almost  exactly  the  same  history  from  an  adjoining  cottage. 
In  some  cases,  perhaps  even  a  large  number,  where  the 
cottages  had  the  doors  and  windows  firmly  closed,  and 
were  able  to  withstand  the  force  of  the  tornadic  ferment, 
there  was  little  or  no  injury  done.  In  the  greater  num- 
ber of  cases,  however,  it  is  certain  that  the  fiery  breath  en- 
tered even  where  every  opening  avenue  had  been  secured. 
This  was  also  the  case,  as  I  ascertained  later,  at  Morne 
Rouge. 

There  was  here,  as  at  Saint  Pierre,  the  same  reference 
to  the  feu,  or  fire,  but  it  was  evident  that  only  a  heated  or 
a  luminous  blast  was  conveyed  by  this  designation,  and 
nothing  burning  with  a  flame.  It  seems  certain  that  in 


238  A  NIGHT   OF   ILLUMINATION 

some  instances  the  darkness  of  the  interiors  was  actually 
illumined  at  the  time  of  the  entry  of  the  hot  blast,  and 
some  claim  to  have  seen  electric  discharges  traverse  the 
room.  I  think  this  condition  exceedingly  likely,  and  have 
always  believed  that  localized  lightning  must  have  played 
an  important  part  in  the  destruction  of  life  at  Saint  Pierre. 
There  was  no  evidence  at  Ajoupa-Bouillon  of  anything 
having  burned  with  a  flame  within  the  village  itself  nor 
in  the  surroundings.  One-half  or  more  of  the  settlement 
had  been  scorched  or  swept  out  of  existence,  but  there  had 
been  no  fire  of  any  kind.  The  sticks  and  planking  of  the 
cottages  showed  no  change  to  the  eyes,  except  that  they 
had  become  gray,  mainly,  perhaps,  as  the  result  of  the 
splattering  with  ash.  Even  the  dry  palm-thatching  had 
remained  intact,  with  no  evidence  of  true  burning  of  any 
kind.  The  trees  and  bushes  that  still  stood  in  and  out 
of  the  village  had  their  leaves,  clinging  to  the  twigs  and 
branches,  shrivelled  up  and  turned  to  gray  and  umber. 
Nothing  had  been  carbonized,  although  the  sap  had  been  ex- 
terminated and  the  smaller  twigs  broke  fragile.  I  searched 
in  vain  for  any  indication  of  active  terrestrial  gases,  and 
could  detect  no  trace  of  any  gaseous  odor,  not  even  that  of 
sulphur. 

The  destruction  of  Ajoupa-Bouillon  took  place  almost 
immediately  after  nine  o'clock  of  the  previous  evening. 
It  was  also  the  time  of  the  destruction  of  Morne  Rouge 
and  the  invasion  of  Morne  Capot,  and  there  can  be  no 
question  that  all  the  havoc  that  had  been  wrought  on  this 
fatal  August  30  was  the  result  of  one  explosive  blast, 


A   NIGHT   OF   ILLUMINATION  239 

whatever  may  have  been  its  exact  nature,  or  of  a  series 
of  such  blasts  following  rapidly  upon  one  another.  It  is 
singular  that  we,  who  were  passing  the  evening  at  the  abso- 
lute foot  of  the  volcano,  much  closer  to  it  than  some  points 
that  had  been  destroyed,  and  remarking  upon  the  magnifi- 
cence of  the  electric  display,  absolutely  above  us,  should 
barely,  if  at  all,  have  noted  the  detonations  which  pre- 
ceded, accompanied  or  followed  the  explosions.  At  St. 
Kitts,  two  hundred  and  seventy  miles  northwestward,  the 
booming  of  the  volcano  sounded  at  this  time  like  the 
cannonading  of  a  naval  combat  in  which  the  largest  guns 
were  being  used ;  and  the  same  observation  was  made  at 
Port-of-Spain  and  elsewhere  in  Trinidad,  at  a  somewhat 
farther  distance  in  a  direct  line  southward.  In  Fort-de- 
France  hardly  more  than  the  continuous  terrific  roar  of  the 
volcano  could  be  heard,  and  it  was  this,  together  with  the 
illumined  ash-cloud,  which  threw  the  inhabitants  into  con- 
sternation and  initiated  the  new  panic.  I  confess  my  ina- 
bility to  satisfactorily  explain  this  singular  disposition  of 
the  sound-waves,  as  every  explanation  that  has  suggested 
itself  to  me  seems  to  meet  with  some  objection.  It  is  not 
the  distance  at  which  the  detonations  were  noted  which 
imposes  the  difficulty  to  the  problem,  but  the  fact  that  so 
transcendent  a  sound,  originated  with  explosive  violence, 
should  hardly  have  been  noted  in  or  near  the  epicentral 
region.  Is  it  an  extreme  condition  of  sound-shadow  ?  Or 
has  the  cavernous  and  "  blanketed"  condition  of  the  vol- 
cano something  to  do  with  this  ?  Or  are  we  forced  to  admit 
a  series  of  paroxysmal  deep-seated  explosions  occurring 


240  A   NIGHT   OF   ILLUMINATION 

in  the  horizontal  conduit  of  the  volcano,  and  immediately 
antecedent  to  the  vertical  discharge  ?  The  latter  condition, 
apart  from  any  relation  to  the  present  inquiry,  is,  of  course, 
well  possible,  and  even  very  likely.  The  acoustical  rela- 
tions of  the  May  8  eruption  were  similar  to  those  of  the 
later  day,  and  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  Alexander  von 
Humboldt,  referring  to  the  eruption  of  the  Soufriere  of  St. 
Vincent  in  1812,  remarks  upon  the  same  peculiarity  of 
sound-carriage — the  eruption  being  more  distinctly  audible 
at  a  distance  from  the  island  than  near  to  it.21 

The  conditions  of  time  did  not  permit  me  to  visit  Morne 
Rouge,  and  my  only  glimpse  of  the  destroyed  city  was 
obtained  in  sailing  out  from  the  island.  The  sole  struct- 
ure visible  was  the  stately  church  and  its  sharp  steeple, 
always  so  prominent  as  seen  from  the  site  of  the  northern 
Saint  Pierre.  A  part  of  the  roof  had  been  lifted,  but  this 
could  not  be  seen — nor  the  other  remaining  houses  which 
told  of  the  former  existence  of  a  city  whose  population 
ranged  from  three  thousand  to  four  thousand  or  more. 
Like  its  sister  city,  Saint  Pierre,  to  whose  wealthier  inhabi- 
tants it  ministered  the  cool  of  mountain  breezes  and  the 
solace  of  verdant  fields  and  forests,  Morne  Rouge  was  wiped 
out — razed  to  the  ground  and  in  part  burned  aflame.  The 
glare  of  its  fire  was  plainly  visible  to  us  at  the  Habitation 
Leyritz.  The  country  on  all  sides  of  the  town  was  deso- 
lated, and  nothing  remained  of  the  beautiful  greens  which 
gave  the  charm  to  the  location.  The  whole  Calebasse  slope 
was  swept  clear,  and  far  off,  on  the  heights  of  Fonds-Saint- 
Denis  and  over  nearly  to  the  Pitons  de  Carbet,  could  we  see 


A  NIGHT  OF  ILLUMINATION  241 

the  entering- wedges  of  the  scarred  vegetation.  Pelee  had 
wonderfully  increased  its  zone  of  force. 

There  would  appear  to  be  at  this  time  no  way  of  closely 
approximating  the  casualties  at  Morne  Rouge,  although  it 
is  all  but  certain  that  at  least  twelve  hundred  perished.  On 
the  morning  of  the  fatal  day,  as  I  was  informed  by  one  of 
the  Brothers  associated  with  the  Vicar-General  of  Martin- 
ique, M.  Parel,  two  thousand  one  hundred  rations  had  been 
distributed  by  the  government  officials,  the  bulk  of  the  pop- 
ulation being  still  held  on  the  list  of  the  sinistres  of  May  8. 
It  is  thought  that  several  hundreds  must  have  sought  more 
secure  quarters  (where  ?)  during  the  day,  when  the  activity 
of  the  volcano  became  unbearable,  and  of  this  number 
probably  the  greater  part  was  saved.  The  Vicar-General 
himself  believed  that  from  twelve  hundred  to  fifteen  hun- 
dred perished,  excepting  perhaps  fifty  or  sixty,  all  who  re- 
mained up  to  the  hour  of  nine  o'clock.  Many  of  the 
corpses  were  swept  far  from  the  site  of  the  catastrophe, 
others  remained  buried  under  the  debris  that  lies  over 
them,  and  still  others  were  burned  to  a  crisp  mass.  Save 
the  church  and  two  or  three  other  buildings,  all  the  houses 
of  the  town  were  of  wood. 

A  particularly  sad  moment  in  the  annihilation  of  Morne 
Rouge  was  the  taking  away  of  Pere  Mary,  the  good  curate  of 
the  church,  whose  faithful  work  in  ministering  to  the  wants 
of  those  who  stayed  during  the  storm  of  May  8  will  long 
be  remembered  in  the  history  of  Martinique.  He  had  only 
recently  returned  from  Fort-de-France,  and  now  perished 
with  nearly  all  those  who  had  returned  with  him,  thinking 

16 


242  A   NIGHT   OF   ILLUMINATION 

that  danger  had  passed.  When  the  presbytery  was  on  fire 
he  sought  the  shelter  of  the  church,  but  was  struck  by  the 
hot  blast  before  that  building  could  be  reached.  He  suc- 
ceeded, however,  in  dragging  himself  into  the  interior,  and, 
with  terrible  suffering,  stretched  himself  upon  a  bench. 
Here  he  was  found  at  four  o'clock  of  the  following  morn- 
ing, still  fully  conscious  and  expressing  anxiety  for  his 
flock.  He  was  removed  to  Fonds-Saint-Denis,  and  thence 
to  Fort-de-France,  where  he  expired  at  eleven  o'clock  of  the 
morning  of  September  1 — a  man  honored  by  all. 

At  the  Hopital  of  Fort-de-France  I  had  the  advantage 
of  an  interview  with  a  lovely  French  girl  of  perhaps  seven- 
teen years,  Mile.  Desiree  Martin-d'Harcourt,  who  had  been 
brought  down  as  one  of  the  wounded  from  Morne  Rouge, 
and  who  gave  me  a  very  intelligent  statement  of  her  impres- 
sions of  what  had  taken  place  on  the  evening  of  the  30th. 
Her  mother,  more  burned  than  herself,  and  also  her 
brother,  were  being  cared  for  in  the  same  room.  The  fam- 
ily had  retired  for  the  night,  not  being  able  to  stand  the 
strain  which  the  roaring  of  the  volcano  imposed  upon  them 
any  longer,  and  firmly  secured  the  house,  closing  everything. 
Shortly  after  nine  o'clock  a  dull  detonation  was  heard,  and 
the  outer  shutter  (sous-le-vent)  was  released  from  its  bar 
fastenings  and  swung  open.  Instantly  the  hot  blast  entered 
and  commenced  its  terrible  rasping  work.  Mile.  Desiree 
was  confident  that  it  was  luminous  or  electric  in  character. 
Refuge  was  sought  under  the  beds,  and  mattresses  were 
hauled  down  to  cover  the  protruding  feet.  At  this  time, 
thinking  that  the  storm  had  passed,  Mme.  Martin-d'Har- 


A   NIGHT   OF   ILLUMINATION  243 

court  opened  the  door,  only  to  admit  a  second  and  stronger 
blast,  to  which  she  nearly  succumbed.  All  experienced 
extreme  difficulty  in  breathing,  but  the  sensation  of  choking 
was  only  momentary.  Sulphurous  odors  were  strongly 
perceptible.  The  Martin-d'Harcourt  home  was  one  of  the 
better  properties  of  Morne  Rouge,  and  doubtless  owed  its 
escape  from  destruction  to  superior  construction,  as  it  stood 
sufficiently  exposed  to  the  storm.  Mme.  Martin-d'Harcourt 
succumbed  to  her  wounds  the  day  following  my  visit. 


XYII 

THE   SOTJFRIERE   OF   ST.  VEtfCEOT  AKD   THE 
AFTERGLOWS 

THE  disposition  of  my  time  in  the  Lesser  Antilles  did  not 
permit  me  to  conduct  investigations  in  St.  Vincent,  and 
my  only  view  of  the  Soufriere  was  from  the  deck  of  a  small 
coastwise  steamer  coming  from  and  going  to  Martinique  on 
May  26  and  27.  The  atmosphere  was,  fortunately,  clear, 
and  we  obtained  as  we  approached  and  passed  the  mouth  of 
the  Wallibou  River  an  almost  unobstructed  picture  of  the 
great  volcano,  whose  cloud  was  drifting  eastward,  and  of  a 
large  part  of  the  plain  that  marked  one  of  the  most  noted 
areas  in  the  region  of  volcanic  destruction.  Puffs  of  steam 
were  rising  from  many  parts  of  the  Wallibou  Valley,  and 
great  blasts,  coming  at  almost  regular  intervals,  defined 
positions  of  greatest  accumulation  of  the  ejecta,  to  which  the 
running  waters  spasmodically  found  their  way.  These  sec- 
ondary explosions  were  similar  to  those  which  appear  in 
the  basin  of  the  Riviere  Blanche,  in  Martinique,  but  they 
were  much  more  numerous  here  than  at  any  time,  as  I  had 
observed  them,  in  the  latter  locality,  except  immediately 
after  the  eruption  of  August  30.  The  more  irregularly 
cloaked  and  incised  plain  of  the  Wallibou,  turning  the 
waters  to  widely-diverging  courses,  sufficiently  accounts  for 
this. 

In  the  great  valley  that  lay  ahead  of  us,  and  that  in  its 

244 


Underwood  &  Underwood,  Stereos.  Photo.,  New  York,  Copyright,  1902 
THE    DARKENING   CLOUD   OF  JUNE   6,  1902 


THE   SOUFEIEEE   OF   ST.  VINCENT  245 

upper  part  is  turned  towards  the  Soufriere,  were  two  great 
arms  of  black  mud,  which  hung  like  receding  glaciers  in 
their  expanded  beds.  They  were  overflows  from  disrupting 
waters,  and  had  their  black  color  from  being  wet.  In  gen- 
eral appearance  they  were  like  black  lava-flows,  and  it  was 
easy  to  understand  how,  from  a  distance,  they  should  origi- 
nally have  been  taken  to  be  such.  At  the  time  when  I  first 
passed  Mont  Pelee  a  similar  sheet  of  black  mud,  slowly 
creeping  down  to  the  ocean  front,  occupied  much  of  the 
surface  of  the  plain  between  the  Rivieres  Blanche  and 
Seche. 

The  phenomena  of  the  great  eruption  of  the  Soufriere 
on  May  7,  one  day  in  advance  of  that  of  Mont  Pelee,  have 
been  carefully  studied  by  a  number  of  investigators  and 
shown  to  be  of  fundamentally  the  same  nature  as  those  of 
the  Martinique  volcano.  As  in  Martinique,  there  was  no 
lava-flow ;  but  in  its  place,  or  representing  it,  there  were 
extensive  mud-discharges,  some  of  which  appear  to  have 
had  their  origin  in  the  lake  which  before  the  cataclysm 
occupied  most  of  the  deep  depression  of  what  is  known  as 
the  "  old"  crater.  The  observations  of  Dr.  Hovey  and 
others  point  to  this  crater,  which  lies  southwest  of  the 
"  new"  crater,  or  the  crater  of  1812,  as  the  seat  of  the 
activity  of  this  eruption.  Its  dimensions  are  stated  to  be, 
approximately,  nine-tenths  of  a  mile  in  east-and-west  diam- 
eter and  eight-tenths  of  a  mile  from  north  to  south,  with  a 
depth  to  the  crater-floor  of  from  sixteen  hundred  to  two 
thousand  four  hundred  feet.  The  areal  dimensions  of  the 
caldron  are,  therefore,  vastly  greater  than  those  of  the 


246  THE   SOUFKIEKE   OF   ST.  VINCENT 

crater  of  Pelee,  perhaps  four  times  as  great.  The  surface 
of  the  new  and  shallow  boiling  lake  which  in  the  latter  part 
of  May  and  from  June  to  August  occupied  the  deepest  part 
of  the  crater-floor  was  estimated  to  be  only  twelve  hundred 
feet  above  sea-level,  whereas  the  sheet  of  water  that  pre- 
ceded it,  and  which  had  been  famous  for  its  beauty,  rose 
seven  hundred  feet  higher  (to  nineteen  hundred  and  thirty 
feet.)  The  floor  of  the  crater  was  thus  about  twelve  hun- 
dred feet  lower  than  the  lowest  point  of  the  crater  of  Mont 
Pelee,  the  basin  of  the  Etang  Sec. 

The  Soufriere  is  somewhat  less  high  than  Mont  Pelee, 
rising  to  four  thousand  and  forty-eight  feet,  according  to  the 
generally  received  measurements.  Like  Pelee,  its  foot  con- 
tours a  great  part  of  the  northern  shore  of  the  island,  and 
from  near  its  summit  radiate  off  a  large  number  of  streams, 
nearly  all  of  which  take  individual  courses  to  the  sea.  The 
summit  bears  two  craters,  the  "  old"  crater,  which  has 
already  been  referred  to  as  the  seat  of  the  volcano's  latest 
activities,  and  the  "  new"  crater,  or  the  crater  which  was 
active  in  the  eruption  of  1812,  and  which  lies  to  the  north- 
east of  the  much  larger  ancient  vent.  The  two  are  sepa- 
rated by  a  saddle  which  descends  to  three  thousand  five 
hundred  and  fifty  feet  or  lower.  A  gentle  plateau,  similar 
to  that  which  contained  the  Lac  des  Palmistes  on  the  sum- 
mit of  Pelee,  extends  eastward  from  the  larger  crater,  and 
passes  to  the  south  of  the  minor  crater  of  1812. 

Unlike  the  eruption  of  Mont  Pelee,  that  of  the  Sou- 
friere does  not  appear  to  have  been  heralded  by  antecedent 
outbreaks ;  or,  if  there  were  such,  they  went  by  unnoticed. 


THE   SOUFKIEBE   OF   ST.  VINCENT  247 

The  earliest  awakening  symptoms,  except  rumblings,  weie 
observed  only  two  days  in  advance  of  the  cataclysm,  on 
May  5 — the  day  on  which  the  Usine  Guerin  was  over- 
whelmed in  Martinique.  On  that  day  the  water  in  the 
crater-lake  was  observed  by  fishermen  who  had  crossed  the 
summit  of  the  mountain  to  be  discolored  and  agitated,  but 
it  was  not  until  the  day  following,  Tuesday,  the  6th,  that 
the  working  powers  of  the  volcano  were  put  forth  in  earnest. 
Great  clouds  of  vapor  were  thrown  out  towards  evening,  and 
the  crown  of  the  volcano  is  described  as  having  been  illu- 
mined by  a  glow  of  "  fire."  The  first  explosion  with  loud 
detonation  was  noted  shortly  before  three  o'clock  of  the 
afternoon.  On  the  following  day,  when  the  main  destruc- 
tive work  of  the  volcano  was  accomplished,  the  explosions, 
accompanied  by  vast  discharges  of  ash,  bombs  and  boulders, 
and  associated  with  electric  displays  and  detonations  of  the 
most  intense  energy,  followed  one  another  in  rapid  succes- 
sion. They  began  early  in  the  morning,  and  it  is  thought 
that  the  first  appearance  of  solid  matter  ejected  by  the  vol- 
cano was  noted  shortly  after  six  o'clock.  The  steam  col- 
umn was  roughly  estimated  to  have  reached  an  altitude  of 
thirty  thousand  feet..  The  most  violent  paroxysm  would 
seem  to  have  occurred  shortly  after  ten  o'clock,  but  others 
of  nearly  equal  intensity  succeeded  during  several  hours, 
or  until  nearly  two  o'clock,  when  a  considerable  part  of  the 
island  was  hidden  behind  a  vast,  reddish-purple  curtain, 
which  swiftly  advanced  over  the  land  and  descended  upon 
the  sea.  A  furious  fusillade  of  stones  and  boulders,  a  large 
part  of  them  intensely  heated  when  they  fell,  was  kept 


248  THE   SOUFKIEKE   OF   ST.  VINCENT 

up  during  most  of  this  time,  and  was,  doubtless,  respon- 
sible for  a  considerable  loss  of  life. 

The  official  estimate  of  the  loss  of  life  resulting  from 
the  Soufriere  eruption  places  the  deaths  at  thirteen  hundred 
and  fifty.  Most  of  those  who  "  weathered  the  storm"  had 
taken  refuge  in  basements  and  cellars,  and  had  firmly  se- 
cured themselves  behind  fastened  blinds  and  doors. 

Many  of  the  general  phenomena  noted  in  the  Martinique 
eruption  were  also  observed  here,  and  the  effects  of  tornadic 
hot  blasts  sweeping  off  the  mountain  were  marked  in  the 
same  way  as  on  Pelee  and  in  Saint  Pierre,  masonry  being  rent 
asunder,  trees  overturned  and  stripped  of  their  covering 
and  appendages,  and  flesh  scorched  and  tumefied.  There 
was  no  single  concentrated  blast,  however,  such  as  that 
which  annihilated  Saint  Pierre.22  The  discharges,  seemingly 
less  powerful  than  that  from  Pelee  on  May  8,  and  more 
properly  comparable  with  those  of  August  30  which  an- 
nihilated Morne  Rouge  and  other  seats  of  habitation,  were, 
so  far  as  we  can  judge  of  the  effects  produced,  consecutive 
in  action,  following  one  another  at  not  long  intervals,  and 
radial  in  the  lines  of  their  destruction. 

The  following  account  of  the  eruption,  written  two  days 
after  the  major  event,  is  furnished  to  the  Barbados  Bulletin 
(May  12)  by  the  Rev.  J.  H.  Darrell,  of  Kingstown,  an 
eye-witness  of  some  of  the  phenomena  which  he  describes : 
"  At  seven  A.M.  on  Wednesday,  the  7th  instant,  there  was 
another  sudden  and  violent  escape  of  pent-up  steam,  which 
continued  ascending  till  ten  A.M.,  when  other  material  began 
to  be  ejected.  It  would  seem  that  this  was  the  time  when 


THE   SOUFKIEEE   OF   ST.  VINCENT  249 

the  enormous  mass  of  water  in  the  lake  of  the  old  crater 
was  emitted  in  gaseous  condition.  .  .  .  The  mountain  heaved 
and  labored  to  rid  itself  of  the  burning  mass  of  lava  heav- 
ing and  tossing  below.  By  twelve-thirty  P.M.  it  was  evi- 
dent that  it  had  begun  to  disengage  itself  of  its  burden 
by  the  appearances  as  of  fire  flashing  now  and  then  around 
the  edge  of  the  crater.  There  was,  however,  no  visible 
ascension  of  flame.  These  flame-like  appearances  were,  I 
think,  occasioned  by  the  molten  lava  rising  to  the  neck  of 
the  volcano.  Being  quite  luminous,  the  light  emitted  was 
reflected  from  the  banks  of  steam  above,  giving  them  the 
appearance  of  flame. 

"  From  the  time  the  volcano  became  fully  active,  tre- 
mendous detonations  followed  one  another  so  rapidly  that 
they  seemed  to  merge  into  a  continuous  roar,  which  lasted 
all  through  Wednesday  night,  yesterday  (Thursday,  the 
8th)  and  up  to  six-thirty  A.M.  this  morning,  the  9th  instant. 
These  detonations  and  thunderings  were  heard  as  far  as  Bar- 
bados, one  hundred  miles  distant,  as  well  as  in  Grenada,  Trin- 
idad and  the  south  end  of  St.  Lucia.  At  twelve-ten  P.M. 
on  Wednesday,  I  left  in  company  with  several  gentlemen 
in  a  small  row-boat  to  go  to  Chateaubelair,  where  we  hoped 
to  get  a  better  view  of  the  eruption.  As  we  passed  Layou, 
the  first  town  on  the  leeward  coast,  the  smell  of  sulphur- 
etted hydrogen  was  very  perceptible.  Before  we  got  half 
way  on  our  journey,  a  vast  column  of  steam,  smoke  and 
ashes  ascended  to  a  prodigious  elevation.  The  majestic 
body  of  curling  vapor  was  sublime  beyond  imagination. 
We  were  about  eight  miles  from  the  crater  as  the  crow 


250  THE   SOUFRIEKE   OF  ST.  VINCENT 

flies,  and  the  top  of  the  enormous  column,  eight  miles  off, 
reached  higher  than  one-fourth  of  the  segment  of  the 
circle.  I  judged  that  the  awful  pillar  was  fully  eight  miles 
in  height.  We  were  rapidly  proceeding  to  our  point  of 
observation,  when  an  immense  cloud,  dark,  dense  and 
apparently  thick  with  volcanic  material,  descended  over 
our  pathway,  impeding  our  progress  and  warning  us  to 
proceed  no  farther.  This  mighty  bank  of  sulphurous 
vapor  and  smoke  assumed  at  one  time  the  shape  of  a  gigan- 
tic promontory,  then  of  a  collection  of  twirling,  revolving 
cloud-whorls,  turning  with  rapid  velocity,  now  assuming 
the  shape  of  gigantic  cauliflowers,  then  efflorescing  into 
beautiful  flower-shapes,  some  dark,  some  effulgent,  others 
pearly  white,  and  all  brilliantly  illuminated  by  electric 
flashes.  Darkness,  however,  soon  fell  upon  us.  The  sul- 
phurous air  was  laden  with  fine  dust  that  fell  thickly  upon 
and  around  us,  discoloring  the  sea ;  a  black  rain  began  to 
fall,  followed  by  another  rain  of  favilla,  lapilli  and  scoriae. 
The  electric  flashes  were  marvellously  rapid  in  their  mo- 
tions and  numerous  beyond  all  computation.  These,  with 
the  thundering  noise  of  the  mountain,  mingled  with  the 
dismal  roar  of  the  lava,  the  shocks  of  earthquake,  the  falling 
of  stones,  the  enormous  quantity  of  material  ejected  from 
the  belching  craters,  producing  a  darkness  as  dense  as  a 
starless  midnight,  the  plutonic  energy  of  the  mountain 
growing  greater  and  greater  every  moment,  combined  to 
make  up  a  scene  of  horrors.  It  was  after  five  o'clock  when 
we  returned  to  Kingstown,  cowed  and  impressed  by  the 
weirdness  of  the  scene  we  had  witnessed,  and  covered  with 


THE   SOUFKIEKE   OF   ST.  VINCENT  251 

the  still  thickly  falling  gray  dust.  .  .  .  The  awful  scene 
was  again  renewed  yesterday  (Thursday,  the  8th)  and  again 
today.  At  about  eight  A.M.  the  volcano  shot  out  an  immense 
volume  of  material  which  was  carried  in  a  cloud  over 
Georgetown  and  its  neighborhood,  causing  not  only  great 
alarm,  but  compelling  the  people  by  families  to  seek  shelter 
in  other  districts." 

The  frightful  intensity  of  the  Soufriere  eruption  is  made 
plain  from  this  description,  which  agrees  well  with  the  des- 
cription of  other  observers,  and  is  perhaps  the  most  exact 
of  those  that  have  been  made  public.  A  just  comparison 
with  the  great  eruption  of  April  30,  1812,  an  eye-witness 
account  of  which,  reproduced  from  the  London  Evening 
Mail  of  June  30,  1812,  appears  in  the  Appendix,  is  hardly 
possible  at  this  late  day,  but  it  is  evident  that  the  volcano 
had  lost  but  little,  if  at  all,  in  vigor  during  the  ninety  years 
of  its  repose. 

On  the  evening  of  September  3,  immediately  following 
my  return  to  Fort-de-France  from  Vive,  we  were  treated  to 
a  new  form  of  volcanic  excitement.  Far  out  to  sea,  south- 
ward, vivid  flashes  of  lightning  were  illuminating  a  corner 
of  the  heavens.  They  followed  swiftly  upon  one  another, 
and  zig-zagged  across  broad  stretches  of  a  practically  cloud- 
less sky.  We  wondered  if  it  could  be  the  Soufriere  of  St. 
Vincent  again  in  eruption.  That  volcano,  unlike  Pelee, 
had  practically  died  down,  and  for  weeks  past  had  barely 
given  signs  of  a  life  within  it.  Visiting  parties  had 
wandered  over  its  craters  and  descended  quite  to  the  edge 
of  the  water  that  again  filled  the  crateral  hollows.  There 


252  THE   SOUFEIEEE   OF   ST.  VINCENT 

was  little  to  tell  that  an  impressive  activity  had  but  re- 
cently ceased.  We  were  distant  in  direct  line  nearly 
ninety  miles  from  the  Soufriere,  and  it  hardly  seemed  pos- 
sible that  the  brilliant  flashes  could  have  come  from  that 
distance ;  but  if  not  from  there,  whence  ?  As  the  evening 
advanced,  the  flashes  became  more  and  more  brilliant,  and 
their  localization  to  a  very  limited  area  of  the  sky  left  no 
further  doubt  that  the  monster  of  St.  Vincent  was  again  in 
eruption.  My  windows  in  the  Hotel  Ivanes  opened  out 
upon  this  spot,  and  gave  a  splendid  position  whence  to  view 
the  display.  Directly  in  line,  but  in  the  opposite  direc- 
tion, was  the  darkened  mass  of  Mont  Pelee.  The  spectacle 
was  both  terrifying  and  impressive.  From  the  Diamant 
and  the  southern  part  of  the  island  the  great  glow  of  the 
eruption  was  plainly  seen,  but  from  Fort-de-France,  up  till 
one  o'clock  of  the  following  morning,  only  the  lightning 
flashes  were  visible,  and  these  were  brilliant.  To  about  each 
twelve  or  fifteen  Pelee  responded  with  one  blinding  flash, 
so  intense  as  to  seem  to  open  the  heavens.  A  green  sky 
appeared  in  the  flash,  and  for  a  fraction  of  time,  consider- 
ably longer  than  any  I  had  ever  experienced  with  ordinary 
lightning,  the  eye  was  paralyzed  and  saw  nothing. 

This  extraordinary  spectacle,  a  contest  in  heaven,  as  it 
were,  between  two  titans,  continued  almost  uninterruptedly 
for  three  hours  and  more,  Pelee  gradually  increasing  the 
number  of  her  responding  flashes.  Shortly  after  one  o'clock 
a  great  red  light  in  the  south  announced  the  culmination, 
and  the  Soufriere  had  released  itself  of  the  energies  that 
had  been  stored  within.  The  eruption  was  seemingly  more 


THE   SOUFEIEEE   OF   ST.  VINCENT  253 

intense  than  that  of  May  7,  but,  moved  by  anticipatory 
warnings,  the  government  found  the  opportunity  to  notify 
the  inhabitants  of  the  surrounding  districts  of  their  danger 
and  to  call  them  into  locations  of  assured  security.  Up  to 
the  time  of  my  leaving  Martinique  there  were  no  casualties 
reported.  It  is  a  noteworthy,  even  if  not  necessarily  sig- 
nificant, fact  that  this  was  the  first  of  all  the  strong  erup- 
tions of  the  Soufriere  which  followed  a  big  eruption  of  Mont 
Pelee,  the  others  (such  as  those  of  May  6-7  and  19)  usually 
preceding  by  a  day  or  so  the  nearly  concurrent  disturbance 
of  Martinique. 

Shortly  after  five  o'clock  of  the  morning,  the  edge  of  a 
black  cloud  could  be  plainly  seen  advancing  upon  Marti- 
nique from  the  south.  It  was  the  ash-cloud  of  the  Soufriere, 
which  slowly  but  surely  crawled  in  upon  us.  By  seven 
o'clock  it  had  passed  over  Fort-de-France,  and  clung  so 
over  Mont  Pelee  that  the  frightened  inhabitants  of  the  city 
thought  that  their  own  mountain  had  been  in  eruption.  At 
eight  o'clock  the  sun  was  covered,  and  it  remained  so  until 
nearly  three  in  the  afternoon.  During  all  this  time  a  gray 
gloom  hung  over  the  city,  the  heavens  being  leaden  or  pur- 
plish in  color,  but  there  was  nothing  approaching  true 
darkness.  The  general  sensation  was  similar  to  that  expe- 
rienced during  a  total  eclipse.  White  objects  on  the  sea 
loomed  up  with  remarkable  brilliancy  and  stood  out  sharp 
against  the  background  of  blackened  sky.  The  people 
Avere  naturally  terrified,  and  once  more  the  thoroughfares 
were  crowded  with  observers  anxious  to  know  their  fate. 
The  canopy  overhead  was  almost  exactly  like  that  coming 


254  THE   SOUFKIEBE   OF   ST.  VINCENT 

from  Pelee  which  I  had  observed  in  the  morning  of  June  6, 
only  that  it  was  less  dense  and  naturally  moved  much  more 
slowly.  As  on  June  6,  there  was  a  marked  lowering  of  the 
temperature,  and  throughout  the  day  a  most  genial  atmos- 
phere was  maintained.  Some  of  the  inhabitants,  endowed 
with  a  specially  acute  olfactory  sense,  claimed  to  have 
smelled  sulphur,  but  I  could  detect  nothing  of  this  nature. 
There  was  no  fall  of  ash  over  the  city,  and  but  little  over 
any  part  of  the  island. 

While  on  Pelee  in  the  afternoon  preceding  the  eruption, 
I  satisfied  myself  that  volcanic  ash  was  not  necessarily  a 
triturated  product  derived  by  abrasion  from  blown-out 
larger  pieces  (cinders  or  lapilli),  and  that  it  leaves  the 
bowels  of  the  volcano  in  the  form  of  fine  powder  in  which 
it  floats  out  to  distant  parts  in  the  murky  cauliflower  clouds 
while  they  are  surcharged  and  in  the  flotation  of  the  main 
cloud.  The  propelling  power  of  the  ejecting  steam-column 
was  such  that  no  extensive  triturating  process  could  take 
place  anywhere  within  its  reach.  The  particles  are  mani- 
festly formed  by  explosive  action  within  the  bowels  of 
the  volcano,  and  are  shot  out  spasmodically  as  successive 
eruptions  take  place  within  the  deep-seated  conduits. 
Much  of  the  continuously  ejected  particles  may  even  be 
formed  through  direct  abrasion  by  the  rising  steam-column 
of  the  side-walls  of  the  crater.  This  abrading  force  is  at 
times  certainly  prodigious,  and  it  must  produce  some  dis- 
ruption. 

The  quantity  of  ash  thrown  out  by  Pelee,  if  measured 
alone  by  what  fell  upon  the  island,  would  not  seem  to  have 


THE   SOUFEIEEE   OF   ST.  VINCENT  255 

been  very  heavy,  much  less  in  quantity,  indeed,  than  ash- 
falls  that  have  heen  associated  with  minor  volcanic  erup- 
tions elsewhere.  Except  in  close  proximity  to  the  volcano, 
as  at  Precheur  and  at  Saint  Pierre,  where  a  foot  or  two 
may  have  accumulated  as  a  result  of  two  or  three  consecu- 
tive discharges,  the  ground  scraping  can  generally  be  meas- 
ured in  fractions  of  an  inch.  This  meagreness  of  deposit 
is  in  part  accounted  for  by  the  height  of  the  ash-cloud, 
which  carries  the  discharge  to  more  distant  parts.  That  the 
quantity  of  ash  contributed  to  the  atmosphere  by  Mont 
Pelee  was  in  fact  very  considerable  is  proved  by  the  mag- 
nificence of  the  afterglows  which  followed  the  setting  of  the 
sun  hundreds  of  miles  beyond  the  shores  of  Martinique. 
We  observed  the  red  and  orange  skies,  similar  to  those 
which  were  associated  with  the  eruption  of  Krakatao  in 
1883,  for  successive  evenings  on  our  return  from  the  island, 
on  September  9,  in  about  latitude  26°  30"  north  and  longi- 
tude 68°  30'  west  (as  computed  from  the  midway  determi- 
nation of  the  steamer's  position)  ;  September  10,  in  latitude 
30°  and  longitude  69°  30'  ;  and  September  11,  in  latitude 
33°  45'  and  longitude  71°.  The  last  position  is  fourteen 
hundred  miles  in  a  direct  line  from  Mont  Pelee.  Unfortu- 
nately, the  evening  of  September  12  was  cloudy,  and  it  was 
impossible  to  ascertain  at  that  time  the  further  limit  of  the 
display.  Weeks  later,  however,  and  well  through  the  month 
of  October,  I  observed  the  glows,  with  still  fairly  brilliant 
coloring,  both  in  New  York  and  Philadelphia.  The  glows, 
as  we  noted  them,  began  about  twenty  minutes  after  the 
passing  of  the  sun's  disk,  and  acquired  their  greatest  inten- 


256  THE   SOUFKIEBE   OF   ST.  VINCENT 

sity  of  coloring,  a  brilliant  orange  and  yellow,  in  ten  or  fif- 
teen minutes  after  that  time,  the  period  between  the  sun- 
setting  and  the  first  luminosity  being  one  of  grays  and 
blues.  Before  the  intense  glow  itself  appeared  the  higher 
reaches  of  the  sky,  extending  to  about  70°  from  the  horizon, 
were  suffused  in  pale  pink  and  lilac,  which  intensified  with 
the  growth  of  the  glow  and  became  nearly  brilliant.  I  had 
never  noted  such  an  extraordinary  coloring  of  the  sky  be- 
fore, and  it  appeared  every  evening,  although  diminishing 
in  intensity  as  we  proceeded  northward.  The  finest  display 
was  obtained  on  the  9th,  when  our  vessel  was  nearly  oppo- 
site Jupiter  Inlet,  on  the  Florida  coast.23 

It  is  impossible  to  say  to  what  extent  the  Soufriere 
of  St.  Vincent  contributed  to  the  making  of  these  won- 
derful phenomena.  The  ash-cloud  of  September  3  and 
4  was  certainly  a  heavy  one,  and  its  driftage  was  north- 
ward, so  that  there  can  hardly  be  a  doubt  that  it  contrib- 
uted largely  in  material  to  the  zone  of  suspended  particles 
that  analyzed  the  sun's  rays.  I  was  informed  by  a  resident 
of  the  island  of  St.  Martin,  near  St.  Thomas,  that  the  red 
afterglows  had  been  almost  continuous  in  the  northern 
waters  of  the  Caribbean  basin  ever  since  the  eruption  of 
Mont  Pelee  on  May  8. 


XVIII 

THE   VOLCANIC    RELATIONS    OF    THE    CARIBBEAN 

BASIN 

GEOGRAPHERS  owe  to  Karl  von  Seebach  and  to  Profes- 
sor Eduard  Suess,  especially  the  latter,  the  first  clear  state- 
ment regarding  the  structural  affinities  of  the  islands 
composing  the  Greater  and  Lesser  Antilles,  and  their  rela- 
tion to  the  two  continents  lying  on  either  side  of  them.  In 
a  masterly  way  Suess  has  drawn  a  parallel  between  the 
orographic  lines  of  the  European  and  American  Mediter- 
ranean basins,  and  shown  how  the  features  that  are  domi- 
nant in  the  one  are  made  representative  in  the  other. 
In  both  regions  we  recognize  areas  of  marked  and  long- 
existing  weakness  in  the  earth's  crust,  and  in  which  break- 
ages have  been  progressively  taking  place  and  still  continue. 
Continental  masses  have  broken  section  ally  into  these  areas, 
and  their  fragments  Ke  in  part  scattered  about  as  the  islands 
of  archipelagic  seas.  Mountain  chains  have  been  sundered, 
disrupted  and  drowned  in  the  forming  oceanic  trough,  but 
their  pinnacles  also  rise  at  times  as  islets  or  ridges  from  the 
surface  of  the  sea.  The  Eurafrica  that  was  at  one  time  a 
single  continent  is  now  Europe  and  Africa ;  the  mountains 
of  the  Alps-Apennine  system  that  swept  continuously  into 
Africa  and  Asia  are  now  segmented  and  sectioned,  and  we 
know  them  in  part  as  the  mountains  of  Sicily,  the  isles  of 
Greece,  the  Atlas  Mountains  and  the  Sierra  Honda  of 

17  257 


258     VOLCANIC   KELATIONS  OF  THE   CAKIBBEAN   BASIN 

Spain.  Around  this  vast  region  of  weakness,  of  bodily 
subsidences,  great  ridges  have  been  towered  up,  and  it  is 
these  mountains  which  are  now  in  part  undergoing  break- 
age. Professor  Suess  has  shown,  and  in  a  way  that  cannot 
be  easily  contested,  that  where  these  great  continental  break- 
ages are  taking  place  they  are  associated  with  volcanic  and 
seismic  disturbances,  as,  indeed,  one  would  be  obliged  to 
assume  on  any  theory  that  connects  volcanic  outputs  with 
pressure  exerted  by  an  outer  crust  or  shell  upon  a  molten 
interior  lying  a  short  distance  below  it,  or  holds  that  vol- 
canic discharges  take  place  along  lines  of  weakness  where 
escape  of  material  from  the  earth's  interior  is  made  easy. 

We  find  in  and  about  the  Mediterranean  basin  the  active 
volcanic  cones  of  Vesuvius,  Etna,  Stromboli  and  Santorin, 
and  the  extinct,  but  hardly  less  than  modern,  Castellfullit 
Mountains  of  Catalonia,  Spain,  the  Euganean  Hills  of 
northern  Italy,  the  Alban  Mountains  of  central  Italy,  the 
Tokai  and  Sator  Mountains  of  the  northern  Hungarian 
plain,  and  the  loftier  summits  of  the  Caucasus,  Elbruz  and 
Kasbek,  dominating  a  basin  that  is  structurally  a  continu- 
ance of  the  Mediterranean.  In  all  these  cases  it  is  found 
that  the  volcanoes,  whether  new  or  old,  stand  closely  by  the 
mountain  range  whose  development  or  destruction  brought 
them  into  existence,  and  usually  they  define  the  inner  or 
concave  side  of  their  trend.  It  was  there  that  the  greatest 
pressure  was  exerted  and  relief  from  pressure  found. 

It  is  not  now  difficult  to  recognize  a  broad  parallelism 
between  the  western  included  waters  of  the  Atlantic  basin, 
the  Caribbean  and  Mexican  Seas — which  may  properly  be 


VOLCANIC   KELATIONS  OF  THE   CAB1BBEAN   BASIN     259 

termed  the  American^  Mediterranean— and  the  two  basins 
of  the  Eurafrican  Mediterranean.  Both  seas  lie  between 
continents,  the  American  less  directly  so  than  the  Euro- 
pean. In  both  the  depth  of  water  is  strictly  oceanic  (up- 
ward of  twelve  thousand  feet),  and  both  have  lofty  moun- 
tains associated  with  them  in  some  part  of  their  periphery. 
Again,  both  have  their  island  groups  or  lines,  and  the  vol- 
canoes that  lie  close  to  their  shores,  whether  on  them  or  off 
them.  It  was  a  brilliant  generalization  in  geology  which 
assumed  that  the  islands  of  the  Antilles  were,  in  the  main, 
merely  disrupted  parts  of  a  once  continuous  land  area, 
whose  orographic  relief  was  constituted  by  one  of  the  main 
lines  of  South  American  mountains ;  that  the  Sierra  Merida 
of  Venzuela,  itself  a  direct  continuation  of  the  eastern 
chain,  or  Cordillera  Oriental  of  the  Andes,  was  formerly 
continued  through  the  peninsula  of  Cumana  into  Trinidad 
and  the  Lesser  Antilles,  and  from  there  projected  into 
Porto  Rico,  Hayti,  Cuba  and  Jamaica.  Since  the  making 
of  these  mountains  the  line  has  been  sundered  at  different 
points  by  breakages  and  subsidences,  and  elsewhere  so 
"  drowned"  within  itself  as  to  leave  no  trace  of  a  surface 
existence.  The  fate  of  the  mountain  ridge  beyond  the  Blue 
Mountains  of  Jamaica  and  the  Sierra  Maestra  of  Cuba  is 
not  known  with  full  certainty,  but  the  system  may  be  as- 
sumed on  fairly  secure  grounds — as  indeed  the  identity  in 
lithologic  construction  almost  proves — to  be  projected  in 
drowned  ridges  to  the  Central  American  coast,  and  thence 
continued  into  the  lofty  masses  of  Honduras  and  Guate- 
mala as  the  southeastern  expansion  of  the  true  continental 


260     VOLCANIC   EELATIONS  OF  THE   CAKIBBEAN   BASIN 

Cordillera — the  chain  that  virgates  at,  or  near,  Zempoalte- 
pec,  in  the  State  of  Oaxaca,  and  continues  northwestward 
as  the  Sierra  Pacifico  or  Occidental  of  Mexico.24 

Whatever  may  be  the  exact  relations  of  the  low  line  of 
heights  of  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  and  of  the  higher  eleva- 
tions of  Costa  Rica,  it  is  certain  that  they  have  little  in 
common  either  with  the  main  Andes  in  the  south,  or  with 
the  Rocky  Mountains  in  the  north,  and  seemingly  they  are 
only  a  secondary  or  insular  ramification  which  has  been 
forced  up  between  bounding  lines  of  pressure,  or  been  left 
standing  as  a  part  of  a  broken  arm  of  the  Cordillera.  The 
Antillean  relations  that  have  been  sketched  above  assume 
as  one  of  their  expressions  the  not  improbable  eastward  ex- 
tension of  the  ancient  Pacific  border,  perhaps  even  to  a 
position  not  far  removed  from  the  western  contour  of  the 
Lesser  Antillean  islands  as  it  exists  to-day,  and  touching 
the  southern  confines  of  what  are  now  Cuba,  Hayti,  Porto 
Rico,  etc.  Beyond  this  border  may  have  stretched  east- 
ward or  northeastward,  to  a  long  distance,  a  continental 
area  that  was  largely  continuous  with  South  America. 
And  for  any  facts  that  geology  has  to  show  to  the  contrary, 
this  eastward  extension  of  the  southern  continent  may  well 
have  continued,  as  has  been  argued  by  some  geologists, 
quite  into  the  Old  World,  uniting  at  least  with  Africa ;  for 
there  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  the  southern  basin  of 
the  Atlantic  Ocean  came  into  existence  only  at  a  later  day. 

The  islands  of  the  Lesser  Antilles  as  we  to-day  recog- 
nize them  are  constituted  of  two  groups,  an  easterly  and  a 
westerly,  which  in  close  position  form  a  crescentic  line  ex- 


YOLCANIC   RELATIONS  OF  THE   CARIBBEAN   BASIN     261 

tending  from  Trinidad  to  the  eastern  extremity  of  Porto 
Bico,  or  across  seventeen  degrees  of  latitude.  The  outer  or 
Atlantic  islands,  which  occupy  the  convex  side  of  the  cres- 
cent, are  fundamentally  of  limestone  or  conglomerate  con- 
struction, joined  to  more  ancient  igneous  and  metamorphosed 
rocks,  and  are  of  a  continental  type,  while  those  of  the 
inner  side  are  volcanic,  and,  counting  from  their  principal 
members, — Saba,  St.  Kitts,  Nevis,  St.  Eustatius,  Bedonda, 
Montserrat,  Guadeloupe,  Dominica,  Martinique,  St.  Lucia, 
St.  Vincent,  Grenada, — about  a  dozen  in  number.  These 
volcanic  islands,  which  all  bear  evidences  of  recent  volcanic 
activity  and  belong  to  a  period  of  no  great  geological  an- 
tiquity,— perhaps  nowhere  more  ancient  than  the  Middle 
Tertiary, — unquestionably  define  one  of  the  lines  of  greatest 
weakness  in  the  Caribbean  or  Antillean  region,  and  they 
stand  implanted  upon  or  adjoined  to  the  old  continental 
basement,  whose  fragmented  parts  still  appear  in  such  re- 
mains at  St.  Thomas,  St.  Croix,  Auguilla,  Antigua,  the 
eastern  island  of  Guadeloupe,  and  part  of  Barbados, — 
islands  of  sedimentary  construction,  and  which  after  their 
subsidence  kave  in  part  been  built  up  by  organic  growth 
and  volcanic  discharges.  No  more  extraordinary  series  of 
volcanoes  is  to  be  found  anywhere  than  that  of  this  inner 
line  of  islands,  which  have  sometimes  been  designated  the 
Caribbees,  and  nowhere  is  a  volcanic  disposition  to  be  found 
that  is  more  beautifully  identified  with  terrestrial  move- 
ments, whether  of  subsidence  or  breakage.  The  Lesser 
Sunda  Islands,  Japan  and  the  Aleutian  Islands  alone  pre- 
sent parallels.  Both  on  the  east  and  the  west,  i.e.,  on  the 


262     VOLCANIC   EELATIONS  OF  THE   CAKIBBEAN   BASIN 

Atlantic  and  Caribbean  sides,  the  islands  rise  rapidly  from 
deep  water — more  rapidly  on  the  inner  or  western  side — 
and  between  each  two  placed  north  and  south,  although 
the  interval  may  not  be  more  than  twenty  or  twenty-five 
miles,  or  even  less,  the  separating  water  has  in  most  cases 
a  depth  of  at  least  three  thousand  feet,  and  frequently 
much  more.  The  islands,  again,  present  the  extraordinary 
peculiarity  of  having  their  highest  summits  brought  to  ap- 
proximately equivalent  heights,  or  at  least  to  levels  which 
have  no  marked  preeminence ;  thus,  Saba,  which  is  hardly 
more  than  a  rock  rising  from  a  fairly  deep  sea,  is  2000 
feet  high;  Mount  Misery,  on  St.  Kitts,  is  4300  feet; 
the  Soufriere  of  Montserrat,  3000  feet;  the  Soufriere  of 
Guadeloupe,  4070  feet ;  Diablotin,  on  Dominica,  4740  feet ; 
Mont  Pelee,  on  Martinique,  about  4300  feet ;  the  Sou- 
friere of  St.  Lucia,  4000  feet;  and  the  Soufriere  of  St. 
Vincent,  4050  feet.  It  is  not  possible  to  say  at  this  time 
to  what  extent  these  different  volcanic  masses  may  be  united 
with  one  another  in  the  trough  of  the  sea,  and  there  form  a 
continuous  volcanic  ridge  with  elevations  of  seven  thousand 
or  eight  thousand  feet  rising  out  from  it.  It  would  seem 
more  likely  that  their  connecting  bond  is  the  continental 
basin,  on  whose  crest,  or  along  whose  fractured  parts,  the 
volcanoes  have  been  built  up.  This  conception  is  seemingly 
more  in  harmony  with  what  we  know  of  the  linear  dispo- 
sition of  volcanoes  elsewhere,  as,  for  example,  in  the  penin- 
sular and  insular  tracts  of  extreme  Asia,  the  Aleutian  Is- 
lands, etc. 

In   assuming   in    the  Caribbean    and  Gulf  basins  two 


VOLCANIC   KELATIONS  OF  THE   CAEIBBEAN    BASIN     263 

great  subsiding  areasi  one  is  not  necessarily  forced  to  the 
assumption  that  their  origin  as  such  dates  from  the  same 
period  of  time,  any  more  than  we  accept  that  the  two  basins 
of  the  Mediterranean  were  necessarily  formed  contempora- 
neously, or  that  the  eastern  basin  is  of  the  same  age  as  the 
Black  Sea.  But  they  have  become  isochronic,  so  far  as 
their  present  dynamics  are  concerned.  They  break,  squeeze 
and  press,  and  as  a  resultant,  lands  are  folded  up  and 
volcanic  discharges  brought  to  the  surface.  There  are  no 
facts  in  geology  that  are  more  difficult  to  establish  than  those 
that  are  associated  with  the  first  appearance  or  making  of 
land-masses  and  the  causes  which  have  brought  them  into 
existence;  and  much  room  for  doubt  must  always  be  per- 
mitted in  the  interpretations  of  the  conditions  that  suggest 
themselves  in  inquiries  of  this  kind.  In  the  case  of  the 
Antillean  region,  however,  it  may  be  assumed  as  fairly  well 
established  that  the  singular  peninsular  extension  of  the 
United  States,  the  State  of  Florida,  is  the  resultant  of  a 
lateral  thrust,  with  upfolding,  brought  about  by  the  sub- 
sidence or  deepening  of  the  Gulf  Basin ;  and  one  may 
accept  with  nearly  equal  certainty  a  like  or  correlative  ex- 
planation for  the  existence  of  the  peninsula  of  Yucatan. 
We  may,  indeed,  assume  with  De  Montessus  the  hypothesis 
that  the  comparatively  recent  upheaval  of  parts  of  the 
Lesser  Antilles  is  in  itself  merely  the  expression  of  an  up- 
thrust  between  two  subsiding  basins — the  Atlantic  on  one 
side  and  the  Caribbean  on  the  other.25 

Were  we  to  seek  for  an  absolutely  homologic  equivalent 
of  the  American  Mediterranean  basins  in  the  Mediterranean 


264     VOLCANIC   RELATIONS  OF  THE   CARIBBEAN   BASIN 

region  of  Eurafrica,  it  would  be  impossible  to  find  it,  since 
the  continental  relations  of  the  two  regions  are  not  wholly 
alike,  nor  are  the  mountain  parts  similarly  placed.  But  it 
is  immaterial  how  the  individual  parts  are  placed  geographi- 
cally or  how  they  are  interrelated — their  geologic  aspect  or 
Antlitz  is  fundamentally  the  same.  M.  Michel  Levy  has 
latterly  made  a  comparison  between  the  two  regions,  and  has 
assumed  a  homologic  equivalent  between  the  Caribbean  and 
the  Gulf  basins  on  one  side  and  the  ^Egean  and  Black  Seas 
on  the  other — the  Black  and  Gulf  seas  being  the  included 
basins  in  the  two  cases,  the  Dardanelles,  Bosporus  and  the 
Strait  of  Yucatan  the  connecting  waters,  and  the  volcanic 
Caribbees  and  the  Candian  islands  the  concave  outer  rim 
marking  the  breakage  of  the  main  basins.  This  comparison 
is  interesting  as  it  recognizes  an  existing  homology,  but  it 
can  hardly  replace  the  broader  comparison  which  is  forced 
upon  us  by  the  larger  regions  of  which  the  Euxine-^Egean 
is  merely  a  part.* 

The  boundaries  of  the  region  of  weakness  that  is  included 
within  or  touched  by  the  Caribbean-Gulf  basins  may  be 
roughly  drawn  from  the  western  coast  of  Mexico  to  the 
Lesser  Antilles,  or  over  an  east-and-west  extent  of  thirty- 
six  degrees  of  longitude,  and  from  the  northern  parts  of 
South  America  to  Porto  Eico  and  the  lower  parts  of  the 
Mississippi  Valley.  Practically  the  whole  of  Central 
America  is  included  in  this  region,  whose  area  may  be 
approximately  put  at  twice  that  which  is  represented  in  the 

*  Revue  Generate  des  Sciences,  June,  1902. 


VOLCANIC   KELATIONS  OF  THE   CAKIBBEAN   BASIN     265 

Mediterranean  region  of  Europe.  Nearly  the  whole  of  this 
tract,  and  much  of  the  region  that  immediately  adjoins  it, 
is  characterized  by  violent  seismic  and  volcanic  disturb- 
ances, and  probably  no  region  of  the  globe,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  that  of  the  Molucca  Seas,  has  been  witness  to 
greater  catastrophic  events  and  to  a  grander  concentration 
of  volcanic  figures  than  this  one.  One  has  only  to  recite  a 
few  of  the  more  salient  events  of  modern  date  in  the  course 
of  these  phenomena  to  properly  punctuate  the  history  of 
this  region  :  the  eruption  of  Jorullo,  in  Mexico,  in  1759 ; 
the  destruction,  by  earthquake,  in  1773  of  the  city  of  Gua- 
temala (Antigua) ;  the  formation  of  the  volcano  of  Izalco,  in 
Salvador,  in  1793  ;  the  earthquake  of  Caracas,  in  1812  ;  the 
eruption,  in  April,  1812,  of  the  Soufriere  of  St.  Vincent; 
the  catastrophic  eruption  in  1835  of  Coseguina,  in  Nicaragua 
— one  of  the  most  violent  eruptions  recorded  in  history  ;  the 
destruction  by  earthquake  of  Cartago,  in  Costa  Rica,  in 
1841 ;  and  the  rapidly  following  events  of  this  year  : 
January  16,  destruction  by  earthquake  of  Chilpancingo,  in 
Mexico ;  April  18,  destruction  by  earthquake  of  Quezalte- 
nango  (and  other  towns),  in  Guatemala  ;  and  May,  the  erup- 
tions of  the  Soufriere  and  Mont  Pelee,  in  St.  Vincent  and 
Martinique. 

There  is  perhaps  nothing  that  so  clearly  establishes  the 
unity  of  the  Gulf- Caribbean  region  as  a  region  of  far- 
reaching  instability  as  the  broad  range  of  its  seismic  and 
volcanic  phenomena  and  the  correspondent  relations  which 
they  teach.  No  succession  of  events  could  present  this  fact 
more  lucidly  than  the  events  of  the  early  part  of  this  year, 


266     VOLCANIC   RELATIONS  OF  THE   CARIBBEAN   BASIN 

1902,  when  disturbances  of  one  kind  or  another  were  de- 
veloped over  a  linear  area  of  nearly  or  quite  two  thousand 
five  hundred  miles,  extending  from  Colima,  in  Mexico,  on 
the  west,  to  Martinique  on  the  east.  The  areal  distribution 
of  these  occurrences  is,  indeed,  so  vast  that  one  is  almost 
prompted  to  deny  the  existence  of  any  true  relation  binding 
them  together;  but  the  evidence  obtained  from  similarly 
concurrent  events  in  former  periods  of  time  leaves  no  room 
for  doubt  that  the  association,  which  naturally  fastens  itself 
upon  the  mind,  does  in  fact  exist.  The  synchronism  in  the 
time  periods  of  the  eruptions  of  the  Soufriere  of  St.  Vincent 
and  Mont  Pelee,  as  developed  in  their  recent  activities,  is 
too  patent  to  permit  of  any  question  being  raised  as  to  their 
relation  to  a  common  disturbing  cause ;  and  perhaps  not 
before  has  such  a  close  relation  been  recorded.  The  cata- 
clysm of  May  8,  in  Martinique,  was  preceded  by  one  day  by 
the  main  eruption  of  the  Soufriere,  which,  however,  con- 
tinued in  nearly  full  activity  for  twenty-four  hours  after- 
wards ;  the  Pelee  eruption  of  the  20th  of  the  same  month 
was  preceded,  with  a  nearly  equal  time  interval,  by  a 
second  eruption  of  the  Soufriere ;  while  the  second  death- 
dealing  eruption  of  Pelee  on  August  30  was  followed  four 
days  later,  and  after  an  established  period  of  quiescence,  by 
what  seems  to  have  been  the  most  violent  of  all  the  recent 
eruptions  of  the  Soufriere,  on  September  3-4. 

A  careful  inquiry  and  examination  made  at  several  of 
the  other  volcanic  islands  lying  in  the  chain  of  the  Lesser 
Antilles,  St.  Lucia,  Dominica,  Guadeloupe,  Montserrat, 
and  St.  Kitts,  all  of  which  have  soufrieres  or  craterlets 


=    z 
> 


VOLCANIC   RELATIONS  OF  THE   CARIBBEAN   BASIN     267 

emitting  sulphurous  or  heated  vapors,  establishes  the  in- 
teresting fact  that  their  points  of  activity  were  not  even  to 
the  slightest  degree  influenced  by  the  eruptions  of  early 
May — the  crateral  bodies  of  water,  whether  standing  or 
boiling,  retaining  their  old  temperatures,  and  giving  out 
neither  more  nor  less  of  vapor.  This  condition  is  made  to 
appear  the  more  surprising  in  the  case  of  the  Soufriere  of 
St.  Lucia,  an  island  that  stands  half-way  between  Mar- 
tinique and  St.  Vincent.  The  island  thus  appears  side- 
tracked, so  far  as  the  existence  of  any  connecting  fissure 
may  be  postulated.  It  should  be  noted,  however,  that  the 
position  of  the  St.  Lucia  Soufriere  is  not  longitudinally 
concurrent  with  the  positions  of  Pelee  and  the  Soufriere 
of  St.  Vincent,  lying  considerably  to  the  eastward.  And 
it  is  remarkable,  or  at  least  noteworthy,  that  just  westward 
of  this  island,  seven  to  ten  miles  beyond  the  coast,  marked 
oceanic  disturbances,  taking  place  at  the  time  of  the 
great  land  eruptions,  were  observed,  and  were  considered 
to  point  to  true  eruptions  having  their  origin  on  the  sea- 
bottom. 

As  in  1812,  the  great  May,  1902,  eruption  of  the 
Soufriere  was  preceded  by  violent  seismic  disturbances  in 
the  northern  part  of  South  America,  particularly  ac- 
centuated in  Colombia  and  Venezuela,  and  in  closer  chro- 
nologic harmony  by  the  great  earthquake  which  on  April 
18  destroyed  the  city  of  Quezaltenango,  in  Guatemala — 
seemingly  the  most  destructive  earthquake  in  the  western 
hemisphere  since  the  one  which  in  1812  wrecked  Caracas. 
So  close,  indeed,,  is  this  association,  and  so  intimately  cor- 


268     VOLCANIC   KELATIONS  OF  THE   CABIBBEAN    BASIN 

related  appear  to  be  the  volcanic  and  seismic  phenomena  of 
the  vast  Caribbean  region,  that  Professor  Milne  has  ventured 
the  suggestion  that  it  was  this  earthquake,  or  rather  its 
prophetic  force,  which  brought  about  the  eruption  of  Pelee. 
However  possible  or  impossible  it  may  be  to  prove  the  cor- 
rectness of  this  view,  it  is  certainly  very  interesting  and 
suggestive.* 

As  regards  the  intensity  of  the  volcanic  and  seismic 
conditions  of  the  Gulf-Caribbean  region,  it  has  frequently 
been  asserted  by  geologists  and  others  that  it  is  rapidly  on 
the  decline,  and  that  we  could  look  to  a  comparatively  near 
period  when  a  full  or  nearly  full  condition  of  stability 
would  be  established.  That  there  has  been  a  marked  dimi- 
nution in  these  phenomena  since  a  prehistoric  period,  when 
the  volcanoes  were  first  formed,  or  for  a  long  period  after 
their  formation,  does  not,  it  seems  to  me,  admit  of  doubt ; 
but  I  fail  to  find  the  evidence  that  points  to  any  recent  de- 
creasance  of  power  or  to  that  near  future  of  quiet  repose 
which  is  assumed  to  follow  dormancy.  In  various  papers 
discussing  the  relative  merits  of  the  two  interoceanic  canal 
routes,  Nicaragua  and  Panama,  I  have  sought  to  point  out 
the  fallacy  of  the  notion  that  a  half  century  or  more  in  the 

*  A  violent  earthquake  with  sharp  detonations  was  noted  at  Ca- 
riipano,  on  the  Venezuelan  coast,  on  the  night  of  August  30,  at  about 
nine  o'clock.  It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  almost  coincidentally  with 
the  construction  of  the  volcanic  cone  in  the  Lake  of  Ilopango,  in  Sal- 
vador, there  were  violent  seismic  disturbances,  with  a  southwest  to 
northeast  movement,  in  the  Vuelta-Abajo  district  of  Cuba  (January 
22-23,  1880). 


YOLCANIC   EELATIONS  OF  THE   CAEIBBEAN   BASIN     269 

history  of  an  active  or  semi-active  volcano  serves  as  a 
proper  guide  to  the  elucidation  of  the  possibilities  of  such 
volcano  or  that  it  is  necessarily  in  any  way  a  measure  of 
the  volcano's  potential  energy.  It  seemed  to  me  far  more 
probable,  seeing  that  we  had  in  the  1835  eruption  of 
Coseguina  one  of  the  greatest  paroxysms  of  the  earth's 
history,  that  the  volcanic  and  seismic  phenomena  of  at  least 
a  part  of  the  Caribbean  region  gave  indications  of  an  in- 
crease rather  than  of  a  decrease  of  power,  and  I  pointed 
out  the  bearing  of  this  condition  on  the  problem  of  canal 
construction.  Since  the  appearance  of  these  papers,  the 
world  has  been  startled  by  the  destruction  of  Chilpancingo, 
on  January  16 ;  the  destruction  of  Quezaltenango,  on  April 
18 ;  the  eruption  of  the  Soufriere  on  May  7 ;  and  the 
death-dealing  eruptions  (besides  other  eruptions  of  almost 
equal  intensity,  May  20,  June  6,  July  9)  of  Pelee  on  May 
8  and  August  30.  These,  together  with  the  long-continued 
eruptions  of  Colima,  in  Mexico,  now  extending  through  a 
period  of  ten  years,  appear  to  me  to  be  part  of  one  and  the 
same  general  disturbance  in  a  localized,  even  though  vast, 
area  of  the  earth's  crust.  As  to  the  future,  and  what  par- 
ticularly concerns  the  forces  of  the  Lesser  Antilles,  it  is 
difficult  to  postulate ;  but  there  does  not  appear  to  me  any 
good  reason  for  assuming  that  we  are  about  to  enter  upon  a 
condition  of  peace.  Rather  should  I  believe  that  we  may 
be  facing  a  period  of  long-continued,  even  if  interrupted, 
activity ;  and  that  we  may  even  be  nearing  a  period  whose 
distinguishing  characteristics  may  be  cataclysmic.  The 
Caribbean  basin  is  recognizably  one  of  breakage,  and  its 


270     VOLCANIC   KELATIONS  OF  THE   CAKIBBEAN   BASIN 

phenomena  can  easily  be  those  that  result  from  this  con- 
dition.* 


*  Since  the  above  was  written  comes  the  intelligence  of  renewed 
outbreaks  (October  15-16)  of  the  Soufriere  and  of  the  violent  erup- 
tion of  the  volcano  of  Santa  Maria,  or  of  a  minor  cone  near  by,  in 
Guatemala,  standing  close  to  the  field  of  Quezaltenango.  A  loss  of 
life  of  five  thousand  is  reported — a  number  that  may  possibly  be 
exaggerated. 


SAINT    PIERRE   AND    MONT    PELEE  IN    1766 


XIX 
THE   PHENOMENA  OF  THE   ERUPTION 

THE  general  characteristics  of  the  great  eruption  of 
May  8  may  be  briefly  summed  up  as  follows:  For  two 
weeks  and  more  prior  to  the  event  Pelee  had  been  in  rap- 
idly increasing  activity,  emitting  clouds  of  ashes  and  sul- 
phurous vapors,  and  opening  its  crater  on  the  southwestern 
flank  of  the  mountain  (in  the  ancient  basin  of  the  Etang 
Sec)  on  April  25.  At  this  time  the  sulphur  vapors  had 
accumulated  in  such  quantity  in  Saint  Pierre  that  respira- 
tion was  made  difficult,  and  animals  dropped  dead  in  the 
streets  of  the  city.  On  May  2  the  ashes  had  so  far  ob- 
scured the  roads  as  to  compel  a  cessation  of  traffic,  and 
three  days  later,  shortly  after  noon  on  May  5,  occurred  the 
discharge  of  the  avalanche  of  boiling  mud  which  over- 
whelmed the  Usine  Guerin.  This  stream,  travelling  with 
express-train  velocity,  issued  from  the  basin  of  the  Etang 
Sec,  and  followed  down  the  course  of  the  Riviere  Blanche. 
From  this  time  up  to  the  8th,  during  which  interval  torrents 
of  volcanic  water  were  deluging  and  destroying  towns  and 
villages, — Precheur,  Basse-Pointe,  etc., — the  unrest  of  the 
volcano  was  rapidly  travelling  to  a  climax,  and  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  fatal  day,  without  particularly  active  symptoms 
presaging  the  storm,  the  blow  fell  with  almost  lightning-like 
swiftness.  The  issuing  explosive  and  exploded  cloud  left 
the  crater  at  almost  exactly  eight  o'clock,  and  at  two  min- 

271 


272  THE   PHENOMENA   OF  THE   EEUPTION 

utes  after  eight  the  destruction  of  the  city  had  been  accom- 
plished. Saint  Pierre  fell  before  a  hot  tornadic  blast,  whose 
sweep  could  not  have  been  less  than  from  one  to  two  miles 
a  minute, — perhaps  much  more, — tumbled  into  ruins,  and 
was  in  greater  -part  consumed  by  an  immediately  following 
conflagration.  A  not  particularly  heavy  fall  of  ashes  and 
lapilli  came  close  upon  the  wake  of  the  destroying  blast, 
and  almost  at  the  same  time  a  fall  of  rain,  whose  duration 
appears  to  have  been  less  than  an  hour. 

In  this  destruction,  with  few  exceptions,  all  the  inhabi- 
tants were  annihilated,  and  all  the  evidence  points  to  the 
conclusion  that  in  by  far  the  greater  number  of  cases  death 
was  either  very  swift  or  almost  instantaneous.  Some  few 
lingered  on,  and  two  appear  to  have  entirely  survived. 
Death  may  have  been  due  to  a  number  of  causes,  directly 
related  to  the  crushing  of  a  city  under  the  force  of  a  vio- 
lent hot  tornadic  blast,  but  primarily  it  appears  to  have 
been  the  result  of  scorching  and  asphyxiation  (the  inhala- 
tion of  an  extremely  heated  vaporous  [or  gaseous]  atmos- 
phere). The  measure  of  the  work  done  by  electric  dis- 
charges has  not  yet  been  clearly  determined.  Seemingly 
not  less  than  thirty  thousand  lives  were  lost  in  this  catas- 
trophe, representing  the  entire  population  of  Saint  Pierre 
and  the  people  of  a  number  of  adjoining  faubourgs  and  set- 
tlements, the  zone  of  most  destructive  devastation  being 
measured  on  the  ocean  front  by  the  interval  which  sepa- 
rates the  anse  immediately  north  of  Carbet  and  Sainte- 
Philomene.  In  the  middle  line  or  zone  of  the  sector  of 
devastation  the  destruction,  following  the  area  of  concen- 


THE   PHENOMENA   OF   THE   EKUPTION  273 

trated  force,  is  necessarily  most  complete.  In  it  the  houses 
have  been  most  thoroughly  wrecked — the  human  bodies 
most  thoroughly  annihilated.  Few  of  the  corpses  showed 
any  vestige  of  clothing  covering  the  body ;  and  none 
directly  within  this  zone,  excepting  the  prisoner  Ciparis 
and  a  certain  Leandre,  appear  to  have  been  so  little 
burned  as  to  be  able  to  survive  their  wounds.  Laterally  to 
this  zone  of  greatest  destruction  the  force  of  annihilation 
was  a  gradually  decreasing  one,  to  the  end  of  permitting 
houses  to  stand  and  the  corpses  to  retain  their  covering; 
and  in  the  further  exterior,  to  inflict  wounds  of  a  purely 
scorching  nature  which  were  not  necessarily  fatal  or  even 
of  consequence. 

The  zone  of  absolute  destruction  is  a  comparatively 
small  one,  and  probably  does  not  much  exceed  eight  or  nine 
square  miles ;  but  considerably  beyond  it  extends  a  region 
of  minor  devastation,  over  which  the  vegetation  has  in  great 
measure  been  destroyed,  temporarily  at  least,  by  singeing, 
cindering,  and  the  weight  of  fallen  ashes.  The  explosion 
of  May  8,  while  being  responsible  for  the  destruction  of  the 
life  of  Saint  Pierre  and  of  its  associated  settlements,  is  only 
in  part  responsible  for  the  ruined  aspect  of  the  city  as  we 
now  see  it ;  the  eruption  of  May  20,  which  was  perhaps  as 
forceful  as  the  one  that  preceded  it  by  twelve  days,  gave 
new  characteristics  to  the  ruined  city,  and  the  condition  of 
orientation  which  it  to-day  presents. 

Whatever  seismic  movements  may  have  accompanied  or 
preceded  the  great  catastrophe,  it  is  certain  that,  if  they 
existed  at  all,  they  must  have  been  of  very  minor  conse- 

18 


274  THE   PHENOMENA   OF  THE   EEUPTION 

quence,  otherwise  some  record  beyond  a  passing  notice 
would  have  been  made  of  them  in  the  Saint  Pierre  jour- 
nals. And  it  is  a  fact  that  no  earthquake  shock  was  noted 
at  Fort-de-France  on  the  morning  of  the  8th,  nor,  indeed, 
at  any  time  previous  to  August  24,  six  days  before  the 
second  death -dealing  eruption  of  Mont  Pelee.  In  this 
negative  aspect  the  eruptions  of  Pelee  seem  to  differ  from 
those  of  the  Soufriere  of  St.  Vincent.  The  barometric 
records  kept  at  Saint  Pierre  indicate  a  remarkable  atmos- 
pheric stability  during  several  days  preceding  the  storm, 
the  mercury  column  registering  regularly,  up  to  and  in- 
clusive of  the  7th  of  May,  seven  hundred  and  sixty-two 
millimetres,  only  once  falling  to  seven  hundred  and  sixty- 
one  ;  it  may  be  that  early  on  the  8th,  as  the  sudden  move- 
ment of  the  needle  in  M.  Clerc's  aneroid  possibly  indicates, 
there  was  a  sudden  or  marked  fall,  but  of  this  we  have  no 
record ;  nor  is  any  abrupt  change,  except  that  represented 
by  a  momentary  depression  of  three  millimetres,  indicated 
in  the  registry  of  the  Meteorological  Observatory  of  Fort- 
de-France.  It  is  certain  that  a  heavy  counter-gust  swept 
to  the  volcano  immediately  after  the  outburst,  probably 
drawn  to  the  mountain  by  a  condition  of  partial  vacuum 
which  followed  the  displacements  in  the  atmosphere  due 
to  the  successive  explosions — the  condition  that  in  St. 
Vincent,  during  the  Soufriere  eruption,  permitted  windows 
to  be  smashed  in  by  outflowing  boulders  and  lapilli  on  the 
side  turned  away  from  the  volcano. 

As  a  marked  negative  feature  of  the  Pelee  eruptions  is 
the  absence  of  lava-flow,  a  characteristic  which  also  marked 


THE   PHENOMENA   OF   THE   EKUPTION  275 

the  earlier  eruptions  of  1851  and  1762.  Yet  the  early 
history  of  the  volcano  plainly  shows  that  the  prehistoric 
eruptions  were  largely  accompanied  hy  extravasation  of 
flowing  magma,  which  in  their  later  stages  or  periods  was 
mainly  andesitic  in  character.  That  a  molten  magma  now 
rises  well  into  the  throat  of  the  volcano  is  indisputably 
proven  by  the  ejected  pumiceous  particles  that  are  so 
freely  ejected  and  by  much  of  the  exploded  glassy  ash,  as 
well  as  by  the  lavseform  bombs  that  lie  about  in  fairly 
large  numbers.  The  fact  that  this  contained  lava  was  not 
thrust  out  as  a  flowing  sheet  from  the  mouth  of  Pelee  can 
hardly  be  taken,  in  a  comparative  study,  as  a  measure  of 
the  force  of  the  volcano,  as  manifestly  the  power  to  lift  will 
be  largely  determined  by  the  weight  or  height  of  the  column 
to  be  lifted ;  and  our  present  geological  knowledge  does  not 
permit  us  to  state  this  for  Pelee  or  for  any  other  volcano. 

It  hardly  admits  of  a  doubt  that  several  of  the  later 
paroxysmal  eruptions,  those  of  May  20,  26,  June  6,  July  9 
and  August  30,  for  example,  shared  the  general  character- 
istics of  the  one  of  May  8,  or  were  'similarly  constructed. 
The  personal  observations  of  the  officers  of  the  Pouyer- 
Quertier  made  on  the  eruption  of  the  second  date,  of  Drs. 
Flett  and  Tempest  Anderson  on  that  of  the  fourth,  and  my 
own  on  the  fifth,  point  clearly  to  this  conclusion.  The 
main  phenomena  were  either  in  whole  or  in  part  the  same. 
My  investigations  and  inquiries  made  on  August  30  and 
September  1,  immediately  before  and  after  the  issuance 
of  the  tornadic  blast  which  annihilated  or  invaded  Morne 
Rouge,  Ajoupa-Bouillon,  Morne  Capot,  Morne  Balai  and 


276  THE   PHENOMENA   OF   THE   EEUPTION 

the  heights  of  Bourdon,  and  swept  another  two  thousand  of 
Martinique's  inhabitants  from  existence,  confirm  me  in  the 
belief  that  the  principal  agent  in  this  later  eruption,  and  not 
unlikely  also  in  the  earlier  ones,  was  superheated  exploded 
steam,  charged  in  part  with  particles  of  incandescent  or 
glowing  matter.  To  the  showering  of  the  latter  upon  the 
combustible  substances  of  Morne  Eouge  was  due  the  partial 
destruction  by  conflagration  of  that  city.  Whatever  acces- 
sory gases,  besides  sulphurous  (or  sulphuretted-hydrogen?), 
may  have  assisted  in  the  work  of  asphyxiation  or  otherwise 
killing,  has  not  been  ascertained,  nor  is  it  known  that  there 
were  any  such.  The  simple  condition  of  superheating  and 
steaming  can  probably  sufficiently  explain  all  the  cases  of 
asphyxiation  and  scorching,  or  of  death  where  it  was  not 
brought  about  through  contact  with  burning  or  incandescent 
particles,  electric  strokes,  crumbling  walls,  and  the  violence 
of  a  fully  sweeping  tornado.  The  inhaling  of  an  atmos- 
phere of  the  intense  heat  of  many  hundreds  of  degrees,  in 
places  with  a  temperature  possibly  much  exceeding  one 
thousand  degrees,  means  practically  almost  instantaneous 
death,  and  that  pronounced  heating  of  the  air-passages  and 
excoriation  of  the  lining  membrane  of  the  throat  and  bron- 
chial tubes  which  were  associated  with  the  pitiful  cries  for 
water  and  the  sensation  of  no  air  to  breathe. 

The  geologist  will  never  be  wholly  certain  as  regards  the 
precipitating  cause  of  the  catastrophe — or  more  broadly,  of 
the  series  of  catastrophic  events  of  which  the  eruptions  of 
Mont  Pelee  formed  only  a  part,  In  the  chapter  on  "  The 
Volcanic  Eelations  of  the  Caribbean  Basin,"  I  have  at- 


THE   PHENOMENA    OF   THE   ERUPTION  277 

tempted,  following  Suess  and  others,  to  point  out  the  genetic 
connection  of  the  different  island  groups  of  that  region,  and 
their  relation  to  a  past  orographic  unit  and  continental 
disruption.  The  numerous  disturbing  incidents,  whether 
volcanic  or  seismic,  that  have  latterly  crowded  themselves 
into  the  history  of  this  zone  or  region — as,  indeed,  they  had 
already  done  two  or  three  times  before  in  a  period  of  a  hun- 
dred years — together  with  the  unquestionably  interrelated 
manifestations  that  developed  as  a  part  of  the  synchronic 
movement,  lead  one  to  believe  that  all  of  these  disturbances 
have  a  common  origin,  whose  initiative  is  to  be  found  in  a 
readjustment  of  the  floor  of  the  Caribbean  Basin.  This 
broad  zone  of  weakness,  developed  along  the  northern 
confines  of  the  South  American  continent,  and  between  the 
fragmented  parts  of  the  ancient  Andes  (Lesser  Antilles)  on 
the  east  and  the  Pacific  coast  of  southern  Mexico  on  the 
west,  including  within  its  area  the  greater  part  of  Central 
America  and  the  tracts  of  Mexico  lying  south  of  the  plateau 
(whose  permanency  as  a  "  region  of  concussion"  has  latterly 
been  well  shown  by  Deckert  in  his  paper :  "  Die  Erdbeben- 
herde  und  Schuttergebiete  von  Nord-Amerika"  *),  is  seem- 
ingly still  in  a  condition  of  continuous  oscillation,  and  doubt- 
less of  much  fracturing  and  reacting  subsidence.  Along  its 
edges  of  greatest  weakness,  and  where  relief  from  strain  can 
most  easily  be  had,  do  we  necessarily  seek  for  the  greatest 
development  of  volcanic  activities.  It  is  also  there  that,  on 
any  theory  that  associates  volcanic  phenomena  with  the 

*  Zeitschrift  Gesellschaft  fur  Erdkunde,  Berlin,  1902,  pp.  367-389. 


278  THE   PHENOMENA   OF   THE   EEUPTION 

accession  of  oceanic  waters  to  seats  of  potential  magmatic 
force  within  the  earth's  interior,  we  should  expect  to  meet 
with  violent  or  paroxysmal  outbursts. 

The  Force  of  the  Explosion. — It  is  hardly  possible,  ex- 
cept in  a  very  indeterminate  way,  to  establish  a  comparison 
between  the  explosive  force  which  marked  the  eruption  of 
May  8  and  that  of  other  great  eruptions  whose  histories  are 
fairly  well  known  to  us.  If  the  measure  of  this  force  is  to  be 
read  merely  from  the  mechanical  work  of  volcanic  decapi- 
tation and  evisceration,  in  the  amount  of  solid  material  that 
was  thrown  out,  in  the  height  of  projection  of  some  of  this 
material,  and  the  concussions  to  which  these  projections 
gave  rise,  then  the  eruption  of  Pelee  stands  probably  far 
down  in  the  scale  of  volcanic  catastrophism,  being  surpassed 
by  Papandayang  (1772),  Asamayama  (1783),  Skaptar  Jokull 
(1783),  Tomboro  (1815),  Coseguina  (1835),  Krakatao  (1883), 
Tarawera  (1886),  Bandai-San  (1888),  and  perhaps  even  by 
many  of  the  eruptions  of  Vesuvius,  Etna,  and  Mauna-Loa. 
The  erupted  material  of  Pelee  was  not  particularly  large, 
and  probably  even  considerably  less  than  that  thrown  out 
by  the  Soufriere  on  the  day  preceding.  The  volcano  had 
been  well  opened  nearly  two  weeks  in  advance  of  the  cata- 
clysm, on  April  25,  and  the  crater  had  been  throwing  out 
great  quantities  of  ash  and  lapilli  almost  unremittingly 
since  that  date.  At  the  moment  of  the  catastrophe,  it 
would  seem  that  no  very  great  part  of  the  mountain  was 
raised  or  hurled  into  the  air.  A  comparison  of  ancient  and 
modern  landmarks  shows  unmistakably  that  whatever 
change  was  imposed  upon  the  summit  or  general  contours 


THE   PHENOMENA   OF   THE   EEUPTION  279 

of  the  mountain,  this  change  did  not  affect  the  broad  aspect 
either  of  the  slopes  or  of  the  former  crest-line,  nearly  all 
the  old  topographic  features  having  been  retained,  although 
emphasized  in  part.  It  is  not  unlikely  that  in  this  erup- 
tion some  considerable  portion  of  the  periphery  or  floor  of 
the  crater  was  actually  blown  out,  the  fragments  coming 
from  the  destruction  of  which  may  have  constituted  the 
gerbe  de  rockers  which  has  been  described  by  M.  Thierry 
(Comptes  Rendus,  July  7,  1902,  p.  71)  and  others  as  having 
been  projected  several  hundred  feet  above  the  crest  of  the 
volcano. 

However  easily  one  may  force  a  comparison  between  the 
expended  force  of  different  eruptions,  based  upon  the  value  of 
their  mechanical  effects,  a  study  of  correlative  results  shows 
that  this  form  of  comparison  is  not  wholly  free  from  error, 
and  may  lead  to  serious  misconceptions.  Thus,  comparing 
the  eruption  of  Mont  Pelee  with  that  of  the  Bandai-San, 
in  1888,  we  know  that  the  amount  of  solid  matter  thrown 
out  by  the  former  was,  indeed,  very  small.  The  discharge 
of  the  latter,  on  the  other  hand,  has  been  assumed  by  Pro- 
fessors Sekiya  and  Kikuchi  in  their  official  report  to  have 
been  one  billion  five  hundred  and  eighty-seven  million  cubic 
yards,  distributed  over  twenty-seven  square  miles  of  surface 
(Journal  College  of  Science,  Imperial  University  of  Japan, 
III,  1890,  pp.  91  et  seq.).*  Yet  despite  this  vast  dislocation 

*  This  quantity  (1.20  cubic  kilometres)  is  just  one-fifteenth  of  that 
which  has  been  assumed  to  represent  the  outthrow  of  Krakatao  in 
1883  (4.3  cubic  miles),  and  hardly  more  than  one-hundredth  (!)  of 


280  THE   PHENOMENA   OF   THE   EEUPTION 

and  the  great  tornadic  tempest  to  which  it  gave  rise — a  tor- 
nado moving  with  a  velocity  assumed  to  have  heen  not  less 
than  ninety  miles  an  hour — the  damage  wrought,  estimated  by 
the  Pelee  standard,  was  (although  very  great  in  itself)  fairly 
insignificant.  Only  one  hundred  and  sixty-six  houses  were 
destroyed,  completely  or  partially,  and  less  than  five  hun- 
dred (four  hundred  and  sixty-one)  lives  lost.  Nor,  indeed, 
were  the  "  frightful"  detonations  that  accompanied  the 
explosion  heard  at  any  great  distance, — to  windward,  not 
more  than  thirty  miles. 

The  force  of  a  blast  such  as  that  which,  in  the  case  of 
Mont  Pelee,  annihilated  a  compactly  built  city  along  a 
direct  line  of  nearly  or  quite  two  miles  can  hardly  be  esti- 
mated. Its  measure  can  well  be  taken  from  the  excess  or 
non-development  of  the  ordinarily  associated  volcanic  phe- 
nomena, as  these  seemingly  gave  way  to  a  form  of  erup- 
tivity  whose  force-centre  lay  in  a  different  path.  It  is 
reasonable  to  assume  that  had  Pelee  been  a  sealed  mountain 
up  to  the  time  of  its  first  great  eruption,  the  mechanical 
effects  of  disruption  might  have  presented  themselves  on  a 
scale  vastly  more  imposing  than  that  on  which  they  were 
actually  found.  Professor  Judd,  reviewing  the  character- 
istics of  the  Krakatao  eruption, — which  he  assumes  to  have 
been  developed  on  a  "  much  smaller  scale  than  several  other 
outbursts  which  have  occurred  in  historic  times," — asserts 


what  (28.6  cubic  miles)  Verbeek  believes  must  have  been  blown  out 
by  Tomboro  in  1815. — Koyal  Society  Eeport  on  Krakatao  Eruption, 
p.  439. 


THE   PHENOMENA   OF  THE   EEUPTION          .    281 

that  "in  the  terrible  character  of  the  sudden  explosions 
which  gave  rise  to  such  vast  sea-  and  air-waves  on  the 
morning  of  the  27th  of  August,  the  eruption  of  Krakatao 
appears  to  have  no  parallel  among  the  records  of  volcanic 
activity."  We  may  say  in  the  same  way  of  Pelee,  that  in 
the  intensity  and  swiftness  of  its  death-dealing  blast,  the 
vast  disturbance  caused  by  it  in  the  magnetic  field,  and  the 
extraordinary  brilliancy  and  remarkable  character  of  its 
electric  phenomena,  the  eruptions  of  May  8  and  of  later  date 
stand  unique  in  the  records  of  volcanic  manifestations. 

Distribution  of  the  Products  of  Eruption. — It  has 
already  been  stated  that  the  eruption  of  May  8,  as  well  as 
the  eruptions  of  later  date,  were  entirely  free  of  open  lava- 
flows,  and  that  the  solid  products  of  eruption  consisted  ex- 
clusively of  mud-materials,  lava-bombs,  boulders,  lapilli, 
pumice  and  ash.  None  of  the  more  massive  ejecta  were 
thrown  to  any  great  distance  from  the  volcano's  mouth. 
Their  location,  except  where  subsequently  disturbed,  is 
almost  exclusively  on  the  upper  slopes  of  the  mountain,  at 
distances  usually  within  close  range  of  the  summit;  and 
those  of  larger  size,  measuring  several  feet  in  diameter  or 
very  much  more,  where  occupying  a  more  distant  position, 
have  in  most  cases  undergone  secondary  transportation  by 
rolling  down  the  nearly  unobstructed  slopes.  When  nearly 
opposite  the  lower  lip  of  the  crater  on  August  24,  just  in  ad- 
vance of  a  fairly  powerful  eruption,  I  was  witness  to  giant 
boulders  or  rock-masses  sweeping  down  the  exterior  slope  of 
the  great  fragmental  cone.  Some  of  these,  I  believe,  could 
not  have  been  less  than  twenty  or  thirty  feet  across — per- 


282  THE   PHENOMENA   OF  THE   ERUPTION 

haps  even  considerably  more.  Where  rolling  over  an  open 
or  unobstructed  course  the  distance  covered  was  fairly 
great,  perhaps  reaching  to  two  or  three  miles.  The  rising 
plane  that  forms  the  parting  between  the  Rivieres  Blanche 
and  Seche,  and  over  which  swept  the  mud-flow  of  May  5, 
was,  when  I  passed  it  on  September  6,  a  week  after  the 
eruption  of  August  30,  checkered  with  great  boulder-masses, 
some  of  them  of  very  large  size,  and  bearing  testimony  to 
an  extraordinary  propulsive  force  resident  in  the  volcano. 
For,  whether  rolled  to  their  present  positions  or  directly 
thrown  to  them,  they  must  have  risen  through  the  volcanic 
chimney.  Doubtless,  some  of  these  ejected  rock-boulders 
were  merely  fragments  of  the  united  or  fused  cindered 
masses  that  in  part  construct  the  summit  of  the  eruptive 
cone ;  but  others  were  as  unquestionably  true  ejected 
masses  that  had  been  hurled  over  the  crest,  just  as  they 
were  at  the  time  of  the  eruption  of  May  8. 

When  I  first  reached  the  rim  of  the  crater  on  June  1, 
at  a  time  when  the  caldron  was  swirling  with  steam  and 
vapor,  it  seemed  to  me  and  to  my  associates  that  a  part  of 
the  central  fragmental  mass  (cone  of  activity)  was  con- 
structed of  a  vertical  wall,  and  so  this  feature  is  represented 
in  an  article  published  by  me  in  McClure's  Magazine 
(August,  1902),  and  illustrated  by  that  very  accurate  art- 
student  of  nature,  George  Varian.  The  feature  was  a 
puzzling  one,  and,  unfortunately,  it  could  only  be  seen  in 
snatches  through  rifts  in  the  enveloping  clouds.  When 
opposite  the  cone  on  the  southwest  side  on  August  24,  as  I 
have  elsewhere  noted,  two  giant  "  horns" — one  vertical  and 


Expl.  Heilprin 


Underwood  &  Underwood,  Stereos.  Photo.,  New  York,  Copyrignt, 
A  COCOANUT-GATHERER— ASSItR 


UNIVERSITY 

OF 

OR  Nib, 


THE   PHENOMENA   OF   THE   EKUPTION  283 

the  other  horizontal  (but  projecting) — protruded  over  the 
summit  of  the  cone,  appearing  perfectly  black ;  but  even 
with  a  powerful  glass  their  characteristics  could  not  be  de- 
termined. Professor  Lacroix  manifestly  saw  something  of 
the  same  kind  at  a  later  day,  for  in  a  report  published  in 
the  Comptes  Rendus  (October  27,  1902)  he  says  that  the 
cone  does  not  appear  to  be  constructed  entirely  of  ejected 
material,  but  to  be  formed  in  part  of  very  pointed  and  ver- 
tical-sided needles,  which  recalled  the  front  of  the  andesitic 
flows  of  Santorin.  Can  we  here  be  dealing  with  a  vertical 
upthrow  and  partial  overflow  of  flowing  lava?  Lacroix, 
indeed,  hazards  the  assumption  that  we  may  have  before  us 
the  construction  of  a  cumulo-volcano.* 

Of  the  ejected  material  of  the  volcano  that  was  thrown 
to  a  greater  distance  than  five  or  ten  miles  there  do  not 

*  More  recently  (Comptes  Rendus,  November  10)  Lacroix  lias 
declared  that  the  cone  is  solid,  without  central  orifice,  and  that  the 
normal  lofty  pennant  does  not  issue  from  its  summit,  but  from  the 
sides  and  from  the  interval  which  separates  the  cone  from  the  bound- 
ing outer  wall  of  the  crater.  This  is  an  interesting  observation,  and 
shows,  if  it  is  accurate,  that  the  cone  has  undergone  material  change 
since  August  24.  At  that  time,  as  my  photographs  plainly  prove,  the 
pennant  was  rising  centrally  from  a  truncated  cone,  whose  outer  walls 
were  mainly  of  a  fragmental  character.  Only  at  intervals  before  the 
eruption  which  we  witnessed  later  in  the  day  was  it  supported  by  the 
side-columns  of  steam.  Yet  I  suspected  at  the  time,  from  the  way 
in  which  the  smoke-column  ascended,  that  the  chimney  must  have 
been  blocked,  which  prevented  a  free  and  open  flow.  It  is  not  un- 
likely that  a  blocking  of  this  kind  frequently  takes  place,  and  is 
accessory  to  some  of  the  paroxysmal  outbursts  which  distinguish 
volcanoes  of  this  class. 


284  THE   PHENOMENA   OF   THE   EEUPTION 

appear  to  have  been  many  fragments  that  were  larger  than 
an  egg ;  nearly  everything  was,  indeed,  very  much  smaller 
— particles  measuring  an  inch  or  less.  The  finer  ash  was, 
of  course,  drifted  off  to  great  distances.  Practically  the 
whole  of  Martinique  received  some  sort  of  a  deposit.  Per- 
haps the  farthest  distance  at  which  the  drifting  ash  of  Mont 
Pelee  has  been  noted  in  the  lower  regions  is  two  hundred  to 
three  hundred  miles,  although  there  can  be  no  question  that 
the  areal  distribution  is  much  more  extensive  than  would 
seem  to  be  indicated  by  these  limits.  The  inquiry  in  this 
field  is  necessarily  complicated  by  the  discharges  from  the 
Soufriere  of  St.  Vincent,  whose  driftage  preceded  that  (of 
the  main  eruption  of  Pelee)  by  one  day,  and  by  the  number 
of  discharges  which  preceded  the  main  incident.  Whether 
applying  either  to  the  Pelee  or  the  Soufriere  it  is  interesting 
to  note  that :  on  May  8,  six  hundred  and  sixty  miles  east 
by  south  of  Pelee,  in  latitude  13°  22'  N.,  and  longitude  49° 
50'  W.,  a  falling  dust  was  noted  by  the  barque  Beechwood, 
bound  from  Sal  aver ry  to  New  York. 

On  May  8,  two- thirty  A.M.,  the  barque  Jupiter,  from 
Cape  Town,  reported  receiving  dust  at  a  distance  of  nine 
hundred  and  thirty  miles  east-southeast  of  St.  Vincent 
(Meteorological  Office  Pilot  Chart,  November).  This  seems 
to  be  the  farthest  distance  of  driftage  on  the  sea  which  has 
been  observed,  and  if  the  materials  are  referable  to  the  great 
eruptions,  then  manifestly  they  are  part  of  the  eruptions  of 
the  Soufriere  and  not  of  Pelee.  The  time  period  would 
then  indicate  a  velocity  of  travel  of  nearly  sixty  miles  an 
hour,  nearly  treble  that  which  (as  will  be  seen  farther  on) 


THE   PHENOMENA    OF  THE   EKUPTION  285 

may  be  assumed  in  the  passage  of  the  upper  dust-strata 
which  carried  with  them  the  phenomena  of  the  afterglows. 
Other  observations  on  falling  dust  are  contained  in  the 
logs  of  the  steamship  Goya,  bound  from  Montevideo  to  New 
York  (fall  noted  in  the  evening  of  May  7,  ten-thirty  o'clock 
—11°  23'  N.,  longitude  57°  52'  W.,  two  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  east-southeast  of  St.  Vincent) ;  the  barque  Eleanor 
M.  Williams,  from  Conetable  Island  to  New  York  (fall, 
May  8,  three  to  eight  P.M.,  in  latitude  14°  N.,  longitude 
57°  W.,  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  east  of  Martinique); 
the  steamer  Porto  Rico,  on  June  7,  lying  at  anchor  near 
Ponce ;  and  ship  Monrovia,  from  Rio  de  Janeiro  (at  four 
P.M.  of  the  8th,  two  hundred  and  forty  miles  southeast  of 
Barbados).  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  nearly  all  the 
long-distance  observations  were  made  on  the  windward 
side  of  the  islands,  which  would  seem  to  show  that  the 
greater  part  of  the  dust  was  projected  through  the  zone 
of  the  trade-winds,  and  carried  eastwardly  in  the  path  of 
the  alternating  (or  "  anti-trade")  winds.  The  royal  mail 
steamer  La  Plata  (Nature,  June  26,  p.  203)  notes  falling 
dust  on  May  9,  six  P.M.,  one  hundred  miles  west  of  St. 
Lucia. 

The  Steam-  (Ash-)  Cloud. — This  appears  white,  gray, 
yellow,  reddish,  brown  and  almost  black,  depending  upon 
the  quantity  of  ashes  with  which  it  is  encumbered,  the  pure 
white  indicating  a  nearly  pure  steam-cloud.  When  the 
volcano  is  in  moderate  activity  the  panache  or  pennant  rises 
in  gentle  outflowing  sweeps,  little  different  from  the  curling 
smoke  of  high  chimneys.  Even  in  this  condition  the  vis- 


286  THE   PHENOMENA   OF  THE   EEUPTION 

ible  part  may  rise  to  a  mile  or  two  above  the  crest  of  the 
volcano.  In  a  more  violent  or  paroxysmal  stage  the  ex- 
tended vapor  boils  up  or  out  with  great  force,  disengages 
itself  in  rapidly  enveloping  puffs  and  rolls,  and  constructs 
the  well-known  cauliflower  form  of  clouds.  These  either 
rise  straight  up,  looking  as  though  they  had  been  shot  out 
of  a  cannon's  mouth,  or  spiral  about  in  corkscrew  fashion, 
and  give  the  appearance  of  being  sucked  into  a  central 
vortex.  It  is  then  that  the  volcano  appears  in  all  its  full 
majesty — supremely  powerful  and  terrifying.  I  did  not 
see  anything  that  could  properly  be  said  to  look  like  the 
"  pine-cloud"  of  Vesuvius. 

The  ascensive  force  of  the  steam-column  is  very  great, 
and  from  a  number  of  eye-measurements  that  were  made  at 
different  points  I  should  say  that  it  frequently  mounts  up 
to  three  or  four  and  five  miles.  On  our  descent  from  the 
mountain  in  the  afternoon  of  August  30,  about  four  and  a 
half  hours  before  the  explosion  of  that  date,  there  was  a 
burst  which  seemed  to  me  to  carry  the  steam-column,  nar- 
rowed somewhat  like  a  Lombardy  poplar,  to  a  height  of  not 
less  than  six  or  seven  miles.  Prodigious  though  this  may 
appear,  it  is  still  very  much  less  than  the  steam-cloud  which 
issued  from  Krakatao  at  the  time  of  its  great  eruption  in 
August,  1883.  That  was  assumed  to  rise  to  nearly  nine- 
teen miles.*  On  the  same  August  30,  when  the  crater  was 

*  One  of  the  artillery  officers  stationed  at  Fort-de-France  deter- 
mined by  instrumental  measurement  the  elevation  of  the  steam-col- 
umn to  have  been  five  thousand  metres,  or  almost  exactly  three  miles. 


THE   PHENOMENA   OF   THE   EEUPTION  287 

boiling  from  all  its  parts,  and  the  roar  from  the  ascending 
straight  column  was  appalling,  I  timed  the  velocity  of  the 
issuing  stream  with  my  watch,  and  found  it  to  be  from 
one  and  a  half  to  two  miles  per  minute,  and  at  intervals 
even  greater.  Only  when  coming  near  to  this  column  does 
one  appreciate  the  violence  of  its  temper,  the  force  that 
has  projected  it  into  the  air  and  keeps  it  there  ploughing 
through  the  other  clouds  that  have  preceded. 

It  becomes  an  interesting  question  to  ascertain  to  what 
extent  the  high  flight  that  has  been  obtained  is  dependent 
upon  the  propelling  power  that  shot  out  the  vapor,  or  is 
merely  a  measure  of  this  vapor's  low  gravity  and  expansive 
power.  We  may,  perhaps,  readily  admit  that  the  far  upper 
zone  of  this  pennant  is  "  floating"  of  its  own  accord,  and 
only  through  consecutive  concussions  from  below  feels  the 
true  projecting  force  of  the  volcano  ;  but,  indeed,  this  ad- 
mission does  not  very  materially  affect  the  problem,  as  we 
have  to  consider  in  this  connection  not  only  the  outer 
column  of  steam  but  also  that  which  is  contained  in  the 
throat  of  the  volcano,  and  may  even  rise  from  very  con- 
siderable depths.  The  fact  that  so  frequently  the  lofty 
pennant  is  shot  in  a  straight  line  entirely  through  the  zone 
of  the  trade-winds,  as  many  of  my  photographs  show,  and 
perhaps  even  through  the  zone  of  the  anti-trades,  naturally 
proves  that,  at  certain  times  at  least,  the  propelling  power  is 
responsible  for  the  full  or  nearly  full  height  that  the  cloud 
attains. 

In  the  chapter  011  "  The  Geography  of  Mont  Pelee"  I 
have  stated  that  it  appeared  to  me  that  not  only  were  the 


288  THE   PHENOMENA   OF   THE   EEUPTION 

eruptions  taking  place  from  the  summit  of  the  new  frag- 
mental  cone  that  has  been  erected  over  the  floor  of  the  basin 
of  the  Etang  Sec,  but  also  from  still-existing  parts  of  this 
ancient  floor,  and  I  even  ventured  the  assertion  that  the  de- 
structive blast  of  August  30  may  have  had  its  origin  here, 
rather  than  in  the  chimney-pot.  I  was  led  to  this  conclusion 
by  the  violence  of  the  steam  eruptions  coming  from  the  great 
depths  of  the  crater,  and  their  gradual  crowding  over  to  the 
side  turned  to  Morne  Rouge — the  location  whence  seems  to 
have  issued  the  explosive  tornado  of  May  8.  This  view 
seems  also  to  be  shared  by  Professor  Lacroix,  who  observes 
(Comptes  Rendus,  October  27,  1902,  p.  673) :  "  It  would  ap- 
pear that  it  is  from  the  interval  between  the  walls  of  the 
crater  and  the  base  of  the  cone,  as  well  as  from  the  flanks 
of  the  cone  itself,  that  the  columns  of  gas  and  vapors,  at 
times  of  calm,  ascend  vertically  to  prodigious  heights  ("II 
semble  que  c*est  de  Vintervalle  situe  entre  les  parois  du  crater e 
et  la  base  de  ce  cone,  ainsi  que  des  flancs  de  celui-ci  qui  sortent 
actuellement  les  colonnes  de  gaz  et  de  vapeurs  qui,  les  jours  de 
calme,  montent  verticalement  a  une  hauteur  prodigieuse"). 
The  plate  (decimaprima,  28a)  illustrating  the  eruption  of  Ve- 
suvius in  1767,  and  contained  in  the  "  Gabinetto  Vesuviano" 
of  Delia  Torre  (1797),  perhaps  represents  the  same  form  of 
double  synchronic  activity. 

Quantity  of  Ash-Sediment  Discharged. — I  have  else- 
where incidentally  stated  that  there  was  probably  more  steam 
being  thrown  out  by  Pelee  at  any  particle  of  time  during 
the  30th  of  August  than  was  escaping  from  all  the  engine 
jets  in  the  world  taken  collectively — from  stationary  engines, 


Photo.  Heilprin 


"SMOKING"  FROM  THE  NEW  FRAGMENTAL  CONE 

August  24,  1902 


THE   PHENOMENA   OF  THE   EKUPTION  289 

locomotives,  steamboats,  etc.  Professor  Israel  C.  Kussell, 
in  a  paper  on  tlie  "  Volcanic  Eruptions  on  Martinique  and 
St.  Vincent"  (National  Geographic  Magazine,  December, 
1902),  gives  expression  to  this  quantity  by  assuming  the 
areal  contents  of  a  steam-cloud  rising  to  three  or  four  miles 
to  be  about  4,000,000,000  of  cubic  feet.  He  further  assumes 
such  a  cloud  to  be  charged  at  its  minimum  with  one  per 
cent.,  or  40,000,000  cubic  feet,  of  solid  matter,  and  that  it 
is  regularly  replaced  every  five  minutes  by  another  cloud 
(the  rate  of  ascent  here  considered  being  about  three- 
quarters  of  a  mile  per  minute,  which  is  very  much  less 
than  I  found  it  to  be  on  August  30).  Hence,  the  discharge 
of  solid  matter  from  the  crater  will  be  every  five  minutes 
40,000,000  cubic  feet.  In  all  of  these  data  I  believe  that 
Professor  Russell  has  understated,  rather  than  overstated, 
the  conditions  as  they  exist,  and  perhaps  very  much  so,  but 
they  serve  as  an  interesting  basis  for  further  analysis  and 
comparison.*  The  discharge  ef  40,000,000  cubic  feet  of 
solid  sediment  every  five  minutes  means  480,000,000  cubic 
feet  per  hour,  and  11,520,000,000  cubic  feet  per  day  of 
twenty-four  hours,  which  is  one  and  a  half  times  the  quan- 
tity (of  sediment]  that  is  discharged  by  the  Mississippi  River 
in  the  course  of  a  whole  year  !  In  other  words,  if  these 
figures  are  in  any  way  accurate,  the  sedimental  discharge 
from  the  crater  of  Mont  Pelee,  taken  at  a  minimum  valua- 


*  Professor  Russell  himself  seems  to  incline  to  the  opinion  that 
ten  per  cent,  would  more  nearly  represent  the  proportion  of  solid 
matter  contained  in  the  cloud. 

19 


290  THE   PHENOMENA   OF   THE   ERUPTION 

tion,  is  in  any  period  of  time  during  a  condition  of  mod- 
erate eruption  more  than  five  hundred  times  that  of  the 
Mississippi  Eiver,  and  consequently  considerably  greater 
than  that  of  all  the  rivers  of  the  world  combined.  This 
daily  discharge  from  Pelee  of  11,520,000,000  cubic  feet  of 
sediment  would  raise  the  level  of  a  region  having  the  area 
of  Martinique  by  almost  exactly  one  foot.  Mont  Pelee  has 
now  been  in  a  condition  of  forceful  activity  for  upwards  of 
two  hundred  days  ;  can  we  assume  that  during  this  time  it 
may  have  thrown  out  a  mass  of  material  whose  cubical 
contents  are  hardly  less  than  a  quarter  of  the  area  of 
Martinique  as  it  now  appears  above  the  water?  One  is, 
indeed,  almost  appalled  by  the  magnitude  of  this  work, 
and  yet  the  work  may  even  be  very  much  greater  than  is 
here  stated.  We  ask  ourselves  the  questions,  What  be- 
comes of  the  void  that  is  being  formed  in  the  interior? 
What  form  of  new  catastrophe  does  it  invite  ?  There  can 
be  no  answer  to  a  question  of  this  kind — except  in  the 
future  happening  that  may  be  associated  with  this  special 
condition.  But  geologists  must  take  count  of  the  force  as 
being  one  of  greatest  potential  energy,  whose  relation  to 
the  modelling  and  the  shaping  of  the  destinies  of  the  globe 
is  of  far  greater  significance  than  has  generally  been  con- 
ceived. 

Flaming  Gases. — I  do  not  think  that  we  are  quite  justi- 
fied in  denying  the  presence  of  flames  in  the  visible  phe- 
nomena of  Pelee.  Burning  gases  and  issuing  flames  having 
been  observed  in  some  volcanoes,  there  is  no  particular 
reason,  so  far  as  I  can  see,  why  they  should  not  also  be 


THE   PHENOMENA   OF   THE   EEUPTION  291 

here.  The  fact  that  most  of  the  supra-crateral  illumina- 
tion, so  often  described  as  flame,  is  merely  a  reflex  from 
the  glowing,  incandescent  matter  below,  is  in  no  way  an 
answer  to  positive  statements,  coming  from  seemingly 
careful,  even  if  non-scientific,  observers,  which  assert  that 
flames  were  unmistakably  distinguishable  in  more  than  one 
eruption.  Such  statements  should  naturally  be  received 
with  caution,  but  not  necessarily  immediately  denied.  If 
it  may  be  true  that  a  part  of  the  extraordinary  electric 
illumination  which  we  witnessed  on  the  night  of  August  30, 
at  the  time  of  the  destructive  eruption,  and  that  others 
witnessed  on  the  25th  of  the  same  month,  on  August  9, 
and  on  May  26  and  28,  besides  other  times,  was  of  a 
gaseous  nature,  as  some  investigators  pretend,  then  it 
becomes  easy  to  believe  that  burning  flames  may  have  been 
seen  shooting  out  from  or  burning  around  the  crown  of  the 
volcano.  M.  Roux,  a  member  of  the  Astronomical  Society 
of  France,  in  his  report  to  Camille  Flammarion,  claims  to 
have  seen  fixed  flames  ("  des  feux  fixes  d'une  flamme  tres 
blanche").  I  saw  nothing  that  was  even  remotely  suggestive 
of  flame. 

Electric  Illumination  in  the  Volcanic  Cloud.— -The  cloud 
illumination  which  I  have  already  described  as  accompany- 
ing the  eruption  of  August  30  (Chapter  XVI),  and  the 
kind  which  had  been  observed  several  times  before  as 
part  of  the  eruptive  activity  of  Pelee,*  certainly  constitutes 

*  See  August  F.  Jaccaci,  "Pelee  the  Destroyer,"  McGlure's  Mag- 
azine, September,  1902 ;  Eobert  T.  Hill,  National  Geographic  Magazine, 
July,  1902;  Kennan,  "The  Tragedy  of  Pelee,"  1902. 


292  THE   PHENOMENA   OF  THE   ERUPTION 

one  of  the  most  interesting,  and  perhaps  least  understood, 
phenomena  associated  with  volcanic  discharges.  Indeed,  we 
are  still  hardly  in  a  position  to  assert  that  the  phenomena 
are  wholly  electric,  or  whether  they  may  not  be  in  consider- 
able part  gaseous  ;  or,  again,  whether  they  may  not  represent 
a  form  of  electric  manifestation  whose  peculiarities  have 
been  induced  by  development  in  a  complex  gas-cloud  in 
place  of  the  ordinary  atmospheric  one.  The  figures  that  I 
have  represented  were  sketched  immediately  after  the  cul- 
mination of  the  storm,  when  the  ocular  impression  was  still 
very  distinct.  None  of  the  irregular  figures — circles,  circles 
with  undulating  streamers,  serpent-lines,  straight  lines,  etc. 
— had  the  full  dazzling  quality  of  the  zig-zag  lightning  that 
at  times  flashed  through  their  field,  but  appeared  extremely 
brilliant,  yellowish  in  color,  varying  at  times  to  purple. 
Possibly,  this  was  an  indication  of  the  great  height  of  the 
clouds  and  the  tenuity  of  the  atmosphere  in  which  they  were 
developed,  a  condition  which  is  well  known  to  influence  the 
character  in  color  of  ordinary  lightning  flashes.  The  hori- 
zontal flashes,  and  also  the  serpent-lines,  appeared  to  take 
horizontal  courses  through  the  clouds,  or  across  spaces 
uniting  individual  fields  of  cloud,  and  manifestly  their 
luminant  lines  marked  a  successive  development  in  a 
progressive  field.  I  did  not  myself  observe  any  of  these 
"  bars"  terminating  or  exploding  in  an  end-flash  or  star,  as 
some  others  have  stated,  but  the  condition  might  well  have 
existed,  seeing  how  many  rocket-like  bursts  appeared  in 
some  parts  of  the  cloud.  The  display  lasted  nearly  an  hour, 
almost  exactly  the  duration  of  the  discharge  of  lapilli  and 


THE   PHENOMENA   OF  THE   EKUPTION  293 

ash  on  the  Habitation  where  we  were  staying,  and  during 
this  time  there  was  a  continuous,  but  not  loud,  roaring — 
perhaps,  it  would  be  better  to  say,  rolling — of  thunder, 
which  in  regular  crescendos  and  diminuendos  seemed  to 
traverse  the  entire  field  of  the  volcanic  cloud. 

Whatever  may  be  the  precise  nature  of  these  extra- 
ordinary displays  —  and  only  after  careful  spectroscopic 
analysis  will  we  be  able  to  arrive  at  a  positive  conclusion  as 
to  their  character — it  is  certain  that  something  similar  has 
been  observed  in  the  eruptions  of  some  (perhaps  many) 
other  volcanoes.  The  balls  of  electric  fire  that  have  been 
described  from  the  ascending  steam-column  of  Vesuvius  are 
almost  certainly  a  part  of  the  same  phenomenon,  although 
sometimes  they  are  referred  to  actually  falling  incandescent 
boulders,  the  same  as  in  the  Soufriere  eruption  of  1812. 
Professors  Sekiya  and  Kikuchi,  in  their  report  upon  the 
Bandai-San  eruption  (1888),  speak  of  innumerable  sparks 
of  fire  being  seen  through  the  densely  falling  ashes,  with 
characters  quite  different  from  lightning ;  but  these  inves- 
tigators refer  to  them  as  being  produced  "  by  stones  and 
rocks  striking  against  each  other  in  the  air  or  falling  on  a 
rocky  bed.  .  .  .  We  could  discover  nothing  to  lead  us  to 
believe  that  there  had  been  combustion  or  any  other  heat 
manifestations."  It  is  singular  that  at  the  time  of  our  own 
observations  all  of  the  phenomena  were  overhead,  nothing 
appearing  in  the  location  immediately  about  or  directly  over 
the  crateral  opening. 

*  Journal  College  of  Science,  Tokyo,  III,  1890,  p.  129. 


294  THE   PHENOMENA   OF  THE   EKUPTION 

Nothing  of  the  nature  here  referred  to  seems  to  have 
been  remarked  as  an  accompaniment  of  the  Krakatao  erup- 
tion, but  the  report  of  Pond  and  Percy  Smith  on  the  great 
eruption  of  Tarawera,  in  New  Zealand,  in  June,  1886,  leaves 
no  doubt  that  the  phenomena  witnessed  there  were  identi- 
cal with  those  of  Pelee.  "The  electrical  phenomena  ac- 
companying the  outburst,"  we  are  told,  "  must  have  been  on 
the  grandest  scale.  The  vast  cloud  appears  to  have  been 
highly  charged  with  lightning,  which  was  flashing  and 
darting  across  and  through  it :  sometimes  shooting  upward 
in  long,  curved  streamers,  at  others  following  horizontal  or 
downward  directions,  the  flashes  frequently  ending  in  balls 
of  fire,  which  as  often  burst  into  thousands  of  rocket-like 
stars."  *  It  should  be  noted  that  some  of  the  electric  dis- 
play of  Tarawera  was  "accompanied  by  a  rustling  or  crack- 
ling noise  .  .  .  probably  the  same  [noise]  as  is  heard  some- 
times at  great  auroral  displays."  It  would  seem  that  Drs. 
Flett  and  Tempest  Anderson  observed  a  minor  exhibition 
of  this  form  of  electric  discharge  in  the  low-rolling  black 
cloud  of  July  9. 

Atmospheric  Stability. — It  is  a  noteworthy  fact,  and  one 
that  is  wholly  opposed  to  the  view  that  violent  volcanic  erup- 
tions are  necessarily  indicated  by  precedent  atmospheric  dis- 
turbances, that  none  of  the  great  eruptions  of  Pelee  fol- 
lowed any  marked  barometric  fluctuation.  For  several  days 
preceding  the  May  8  eruption,  including  May  7,  as  the 
Saint  Pierre  records  show,  the  atmosphere  was  singularly 

*  Transactions  New  Zealand  Institute,  1886  (1887),  p.  352. 


Painted  by  George  Varian  S.  S.  McClure  Co.,  Copyright,  1902 

THE  HEAVENS   AGLOW— MAY   26 


. 

>  r^.r~ 


THE   PHENOMENA   OF  THE   EKUPTION  295 

impassive,  the  barometer  registering  at  noon  seven  hundred 
and  sixty-two  millimetres,  and  only  on  one  day  dropping 
to  seven  hundred  and  sixty-one  millimetres.  Much  the 
same  condition  of  stability  was  recorded  by  the  barometer 
of  the  Meteorological  Observatory  of  Fort-de-France  during 
several  days  preceding  the  explosion  of  August  30.  Im- 
mediately preceding  the  event  of  May  8,  and  also  of  June 
6,  as  the  observations  of  M.  Fernand  Clerc  and  the  registry 
of  the  Pouyer-Quertier  indicate,  there  was  a  rapid  fluctua- 
tion with  sudden  fall  (and  equally  rapid  recovery), — the 
depression  of  June  6  amounting  to  four  millimetres,  which, 
I  understand,  is  quite  significant  in  the  island  of  Martinique, 
— but  this  movement  may  have  been  induced  as  the 
result  of  a  terrestrial  (seismic)  concussion  rather  than  of 
a  true  currental  displacement  in  the  atmosphere.*  The 
eruptions  of  Tarawera  and  Bandai-San  likewise  took  place 
at  times  of  atmospheric  calm,  or  when  the  barometer  indi- 
cated no  abnormal  depression,  "either  shortly  before  or 
during  the  catastrophe"  (Pond  and  Percy  Smith).  The 
great  cataclysm  of  Krakatao  was  preceded  by  a  night  of 
raging  storm,  but  as  the  volcano  had  really  been  very 
active  already  before  that  date  this  fact  loses  all  significance. 
Breislak,  describing  the  great  eruption  of  Vesuvius  in  June, 
1794,  remarks  upon  the  stability  of  the  barometer :  "Le 


*  The  almost  instantaneous  barometric  fluctuation  noted  at  the 
Meteorological  Observatory  at  Fort-de-France  on  the  evening  of 
August  30,  and  at  the  immediate  time  of  the  eruption,  was  from 
three  to  four  millimetres.  See  APPENDIX. 


296  THE   PHENOMENA   OF   THE   EEUPTION 

tableau  des  observations  meteorologiques  .  .  .  prouve  que  le 
barometre  n'a  eprouve  aucun  changement  sensible"  ("  Voy- 
ages dans  la  Campanie"  1801,  p.  216).  I  think  that  it 
would  not  be  difficult  to  show  from  the  records  of  many 
eruptions  that  the  state  of  the  atmosphere  has  little  to  do 
with  the  development  of  phenomena  of  this  class. 

Counter  Atmospheric  Current. — The  existence  of  such  a 
return  current,  or  of  a  wind  directed  to  the  volcano,  follow- 
ing immediately  upon  the  explosion  of  May  8  is  substan- 
tially vouched  for  in  the  published  observations  of  MM. 
Roux  and  Celestin,  members  of  the  Societe  Astronomique 
de  France,  and  of  others  who  witnessed  the  catastrophe  at 
close  range.  Some  of  these  describe  the  wind  as  being 
of  almost  hurricane  force,  which  swept  off  the  branches  and 
twigs  of  the  trees  that  stood  in  its  course,  and  overthrew  or 
swept  off  other  objects.  On  June  6,  when  the  great 
ash-cloud  swept  over  Fort-de-France,  and  announced  the 
very  severe  eruption  that  had  just  taken  place,  I  particu- 
larly noted  the  extreme  velocity  with  which  the  normal 
clouds  of  the  atmosphere  were  sailing  in  a  lower  zone 
directly  to  the  volcano,  the  appearance  being  very  much  as 
though  they  had  been  forcibly  drawn  to  it.  There  was,  I 
believe,  no  particular  movement  where  I  was  standing.  At 
the  time  of  the  Bandai-San  eruption  these  counter-currents 
appear  to  have  been  particularly  strong,  and  perhaps  even 
did  much  of  the  wrecking.  Professors  Sekiya  and  Kikuchi 
state  that  the  "fearful  blasts  that  wrought  such  havoc  on  the 
forests  and  villages  of  the  15th  of  July  certainly  were  not 
counter-currents  of  this  class,  however  strong  these  may 


THE   PHENOMENA   OF   THE   EEUPTION  297 

have  been,"  but  "  gusts  from  the  volcano."  Yet  it  appears 
in  the  testimony  and  report  of  T.  Uda,  of  Kokai  village, 
Yama-Kori,  who  was  the  nearest  reliable  witness  to  the 
catastrophe,  and  only  3.2  miles  east-southeast  of  Bandai- 
San,  that :  "  Soon  after  the  eruption  a  great  whirling  wind 
suddenly  swept  over  the  eastern  part  of  the  mountain  with 
great  violence,  destroying  Shibutani,  Shirokijo,  Ojigakura, 
etc."  These  villages  are  part  of  the  seven  that  are  indicated 
in  the  official  report  as  having  been  destroyed.  This  state- 
ment is,  therefore,  directly  opposed  to  that  of  Sekiya  and 
Kikuchi. 

Pond  and  Percy  Smith  in  their  report  on  the  Tarawera 
eruption  remark  the  issuance  of  a  similar  wind :  "  Soon 
after  the  first  outburst,  and  before  the  fall  of  the  first  stones, 
a  great  wind  arose,  which  rushed  in  the  direction  of  the 
point  of  eruption  with  great  force,  and  was  most  bitterly 
cold"  (p.  351).  The  reference  to  the  lowering  of  the  tem- 
perature is  very  interesting.  On  June  6,  in  Fort-de-France, 
immediately  on  the  coming  of  the  ash-cloud  and  of  the 
counter-current  there  was  a  perceptible  cooling  of  the  at- 
mosphere, perhaps  by  fully  ten  degrees,  and  this  condition 
remained  for  two  or  three  hours.  How  much  of  this  may 
have  been  a  direct  following  of  the  constructed  counter- 
wind,  or  due  to  the  cutting  off  of  the  sun's  rays  by  the 
interposed  cloud,  I  do  not  profess  to  be  able  to  say  ;  but  the 
suddenness  of  the  lowering  of  the  temperature  makes  it 
almost  certain  that  the  phenomenon  was  intimately  bound 
up  with  the  coming  of  the  wind.  In  tropical  regions  the 
blanketing  of  the  sun's  rays  more  generally  brings  about  a 


298  THE   PHENOMENA   OF   THE   EKUPTION 

sultry  atmosphere ;  in  this  instance,  it  was  one  of  refreshing 
coolness,  following  closely  upon  an  earlier  hot  air. 

As  regards  the  nature  of  this  counter-current  I  do  not 
think  it  can  be  questioned  that  the  explanation  given  by 
Sekiya  and  Kikuchi  is  approximately  the  correct  one.  The 
immense  volumes  of  steam  that  issue  from  the  volcano  sud- 
denly expand,  and  in  doing  so  necessarily  lower  the  tem- 
perature of  the  surrounding  atmosphere,  and  also  diminish 
its  pressure — the  steam  itself  undergoing  partial  expansion. 
"  To  fill  the  partial  vacuum  thus  produced  and  to  equilibrate 
the  reduced  pressure,  there  follows  an  inward  rush  of  air 
towards  the  crater.  The  strong  winds  commonly  described 
as  a  feature  of  volcanic  eruptions  are  probably  due  to  this 


cause." 


Magnetic  Disturbances. — The  eruption  of  Mont  Pelee 
has  sometimes  been  said  to  surpass  all  other  recorded  erup- 
tions in  the  magnitude  of  the  magnetic  disturbance  which 
it  occasioned,  the  electro-magnetic  waves  that  were  shot  out 
causing  many  hours'  disturbance  to  the  magnetic  needle  at 
distances  of  two  thousand  and  five  thousand  miles ;  and  it 
has  been  claimed  that  this  was  "  the  first  instance  that  mag- 
netic effects  caused  by  eruptions  of  distant  volcanoes  have 
ever  been  recorded  at  magnetic  observatories."  *  This  as- 
sertion is  linked  with  the  disturbances  which  were  observed 
at  the  United  States  Coast  and  Geodetic  Survey  magnetic 
observatories  located  at  Cheltenham,  Maryland,  seventeen 
miles  southeast  of  Washington,  and  at  Baldwin,  Kansas, 

*  National  Geographic  Magazine,  June,  1902,  p.  209. 


THE   PHENOMENA   OF   THE   EEUPTION  299 

seventeen  miles  south  of  Lawrence,  and  which,  noticed  at 
both  observatories  at  practically  the  same  instant  of  time — 
corresponding  to  7  h.  54  m.  local  time  of  Saint  Pierre — are 
naturally  (though  not  absolutely)  associated  with  the  Mar- 
tinique explosion.  There  was  a  second  disturbance  of  these 
needles  on  May  20,  conformably  with  the  second  great 
eruption  of  Pelee.  The  disturbance  at  the  Cheltenham  ob- 
servatory is  stated  by  Bauer  (Science,  May  30,  1902)  to  have 
amounted  at  times  to  about  1/350  of  the  value  of  the  hori- 
zontal intensity  (.00050  —  .00060  c.g.s.  units)  and  to  from 
10'  to  15'  in  declination.  Corresponding  disturbances  have 
been  noted  at  Toronto,  Stoney hurst,  Val  Joyeux  (France), 
Paris,  Potsdam,  Pola,  Athens,  and  Honolulu  (Terrestrial 
Magnetism  and  Atmospheric  Electricity,  June,  1902 ;  Me- 
teor ologisches  Zeitschrift,  Vienna,  XIX,  pp.  316-317  ;  Comp- 
tes  Rendus,  June  16,  1902),  and  it  is  remarkable  that  all 
of  these  were  noted  at  almost  precisely  the  same  moment 
of  time,  corresponding  to  7  h.  54  m.  of  the  time  of  Saint 
Pierre.  At  Athens,  as  at  most  of  the  other  stations,  no 
seismic  disturbance  of  any  kind  was  noted  at  this  time ;  on 
the  other  hand,  the  great  earthquake  of  Guatemala,  on 
April  18,  was  impressively  registered  by  the  seismographs 
at  nearly  all,  or  all  of  the  observatories.  The  most  in- 
teresting magnetic  notation  is  that  of  Zi-ka-Wei,  China,  the 
observations  pertaining  to  which  were  made  by  M.  de  Moid- 
rey,  and  are  published  in  the  Comptes  Rendus  for  August 
11, 1902  :  "  Ce  jour-Id,  a  7  h.  58  m.  (Martinique  time),  apres 
une  longue  periode  de  calme  magnetique,  notre  bifilaire 
indique  un  accroissement  brusque  de  la  composante  horizon- 


300  THE   PHENOMENA   OF  THE   EKUPT1ON 

tale,  qui  reste  agitee  pendant  huit  heures  environ"  (p.  322). 
The  length  of  duration,  and  the  great  distance  at  which 
the  disturbance  was  felt,  are  alike  noteworthy.  Zi-ka-Wei 
is  situated  almost  exactly  on  the  meridian  opposed  to 
Saint  Pierre — i.e.,  half  round  the  world  in  distance  from  it. 
This  record  is  specially  significant,  as  during  the  Krakatao 
eruption  it  was  considered  doubtful  if  the  instruments  of 
this  station  recorded  any  disturbance  that  could  be  correlated 
with  the  events  that  had  transpired  in  the  Sunda  Straits.* 

The  replies  to  the  official  inquiries  sent  out  by  the 
Krakatao  Committee  of  the  Eoyal  Society  would  seem  to 
indicate  that  no  particular  magnetic  disturbances  were  noted 
in  Bombay,  Melbourne  or  Toronto,  and  the  perturbation 
was  so  slight  and  of  so  doubtful  a  nature  in  the  European 
cities  that  it  may  be  questioned  if  they  were  in  any  way 
related  to  the  eruption ;  at  all  events,  there  was  nothing 
that  was  in  any  way  comparable  with  the  magnitude  of  the 
disturbance  registered  at  the  American  stations.  On  the 
other  hand,  it  seems  that  some  slight  magnetic  variation 
was  noted  at  Para,  Brazil,  on  the  day  of  the  Krakatao 
eruption.  Dr.  Van  der  Stok,  the  Director  of  the  Batavia 
Observatory,  noted  at  the  time  of  the  Krakatao  eruption  a 
marked  magnetic  oscillation  which  he  attributed  to  the 
influence  of  the  magnetic  iron  contained  in  the  falling  ashes. 
Probably  this  disturbance  was  of  the  same  nature  as  that 

*  Marc  Dechevrens :  "Jene  sais  si  les  irregularites  magnetiques  que 
fenvoie  out  eu  aussi  une  relation  avec  le  bouleversement  de  Krakatao ;  les 
magnetogrammes  ne  montrent  rien  le  28." — Eoyal  Society  Eeport,  1888, 
p.  473. 


THE   PHENOMENA   OF   THE   EKUPTiON  301 

which  I  noted  on  the  rim  of  the  ancient  basin  of  the  Lac 
des  Palmistes,  at  the  time  of  my  first  ascent  to  the  summit 
of  Pelee  (May  31),  and  when  the  compass-needle  was  de- 
flected forty  degrees  or  more  to  the  eastward.  The  basin 
was  still  extensively  steaming,  and  was  largely  filled  up 
with  ejected  material  from  the  volcano,  recently  cast  out.* 

Afterglows. — Among  the  interesting  optical  phenomena 
associated  with  the  Pelee  eruptions  were  the  remarkable 
afterglows  which  for  a  fairly  extended  period  were  noted  in 
many  and  widely  separated  parts  of  the  earth's  surface,  and 
presented  themselves  with  an  intensity  that  almost  rivalled 
those  which  for  a  period  of  a  year  and  more  followed  the 
Krakatao  eruption.  I  have  elsewhere  noted  these  glows  as 
having  been  observed  by  me  on  September  9,  in  approxi- 
mate latitude  26°  30'  N.,  longitude  68°  30'  W. ;  on  Septem- 
10  in  latitude  30°,  longitude  69°  30' ;  and  on  September  11, 
in  latitude  33°  45',  longitude  71°  ;  and  again,  at  a  much 
later  period,  up  to  nearly  the  middle  of  November  in  New 
York  and  Philadelphia.  At  the  latter  time,  the  glows  were 
also  observed  in  Boston,  Baltimore  and  other  American 

*  An  interesting  possible  relation  existing  between  violent  ex- 
plosions and  magnetic  disturbance  has  recently  been  discussed  by 
Professor  Nipher  (Science,  July  11,  1902,  p.  64).  The  full  record  of 
the  magnetic  disturbances  connected  with  the  West  Indian  eruptions 
is  being  elaborated  by  the  United  States  Coast  and  Geodetic  Survey. 
It  is  a  noteworthy  fact  that  nearly  all  of  the  earliest  records  of  mag- 
netic disturbance  relate  to  the  eruption  of  Mont  Pelee  on  the  8th 
May,  and  not  to  the  earlier  one  of  the  Soufriere.  This  opens  up  an 
interesting  field  of  inquiry  in  connection  with  the  physics  of  the  two 
volcanoes. 


302  THE   PHENOMENA   OF  THE   EEUPTION 

cities.  Unfortunately,  few  observations  were  made  in  this 
section  of  the  United  States,  and  in  many  parts  the  bright 
loom,  which  appeared  usually  twenty  to  twenty-five  min- 
utes after  the  disappearance  of  the  sun,  was  credited  to  the 
smoke  which  permeated  the  atmosphere  as  the  result  of 
undue  burning  of  soft  coal.  In  some  places  the  glow  was 
also  visible  in  early  morning. 

Brilliant  afterglows  or  modified  sunsets  whose  connec- 
tion with  the  Martinique  eruption  can  hardly  be  questioned 
were  noted,  among  other  localities,  at 

A  hundred  miles  westward  of  St.  Lucia,  on  May  9 
(green  sunset,  observed  by  the  royal  mail  steamer  La 
Plata). 

At  Barbados,  on  May  11  and  14,  with  brilliant  orange 
skies,  beginning  at  5.30  P.M. 

At  Honolulu,  twelve  days  after  the  eruption,  with  a 
brilliancy  of  color  about  equal  to  that  of  the  glows  which 
appeared  in  the  first  two  weeks  after  the  Krakatao  eruption. 
On  July  31,  as  reported  by  Mr.  S.  E.  Bishop  (Nature,  Sep- 
tember 4,  1902,  p.  442),  the  solar  corona  or  "  Bishop's 
ring"  was  still  conspicuous. 

At  Kingston,  Jamaica,  on  May  25-31  and  before ;  with 
colors  reported  to  have  been  "  extraordinarily  rich  and 
beautiful." 

At  St.  Kitts,  in  red  color,  on  May  27 — being  the  earliest 
distinctive  glow  noticed  on  the  island. 

Off  the  Venezuelan  coast,  between  Carupano  and  La 
Guayra,  noted  by  H.  M.  S.  Gazelle,  on  May  10. 

At  Los  Angeles,  California,  on  June  22  and  23. 


THE   PHENOMENA   OF   THE   ERUPTION  303 

At  Funchal,  Madeira,  on  June  6,  10  and  11 — possibly 
even  at  an  earlier  period — described  by  F.  W.  T.  Krohn  to 
have  been  similar  to  the  Krakatao  glows  ;  also  on  or  about 
July  6-7,  12-16,  26-27  and  August  1-3. 

At  Slough,  England  (as  observed  by  Professor  A.  S. 
Herschel),  on  June  17,  21,  26  and  later. 

At  Lewisham,  South  Kensington,  and  other  localities  in 
England  during  late  June  and  in  July. 

At  Bombay,  about  June  25  (?). 

At  Morges,  Switzerland,  as  observed  by  Professor  F.  A. 
Forel  (Journal  Suisse,  of  July  10)  on  July  5,  a  brilliant 
disk  of  a  whitish-yellow  light  appearing  thirty  degrees 
above  the  sunset  point  a  quarter  of  an  hour  after  the  setting 
of  the  sun. 

In  northern  Italy,  in  early  July,  with  streaked  radia- 
tions. 

At  Berlin,  in  late  June  or  early  July,  with  remarkable 
coloring. 

The  characteristics  of  the  Pelee  (and  Soufriere)  after- 
glows were  similar  to  those  of  the  glows  of  Krakatao, 
although  the  intensity  of  the  coloring  and  illumination  was 
probably  at  most  points  of  observation  less  pronounced  than 
in  the  case  of  the  glows  of  1883  and  1884.  As  I  observed 
the  coloring  towards  the  middle  of  September,  at  localities 
north-northwest  of  Martinique,  a  few  days  after  the  new 
great  eruptions  of  Pelee  and  the  Soufriere,  it  was  very  bril- 
liant, the  orange  and  the  red  being  particularly  fine.  The 
upper  border  of  the  bright  illumination  faded  off  into  a 
superb  and  intense  lilac,  which,  I  believe,  had  not  generally 


304  THE   PHENOMENA   OF  THE   EEUPTION 

been  observed  as  a  feature  of  the  Krakatao  glows.  Bishop 
noticed  this  lilac  color  in  1884  in  Honolulu,  even  in  day- 
time, and  it  is  certainly  due  to  the  commingling  of  the 
pink  or  roseate  light  with  the  normal  blue  of  the  sky. 
Five  great  "  shadow-beams,"  with  broadening  ends  directed 
to  the  zenith,  and  of  almost  exactly  the  color  of  the  purple- 
blue  in  the  outlying  field  of  the  sky,  were  a  distinctive 
feature  of  the  area  of  the  glows  on  September  9  and  10 
radiating  fan-like  from  the  position  of  the  sun,  and  rising 
to  perhaps  forty-five  degrees. 

The  brilliancy  of  the  glows  as  they  were  observed  in 
parts  of  western  Switzerland  was  such  as  to  suggest  a  con- 
flagration, appearing  "  as  if  the  whole  of  the  west  of  Switz- 
erland was  on  fire  and  the  flames  reflected  in  the  sky."  * 
It  is  singular  that  Professor  Herschel  makes  the  same  obser- 
vation for  the  appearance  at  Slough,  England,  on  the  night 
of  June  22,  which  was  "  an  almost  terrifying  resemblance 
to  reflection  in  the  sky  of  an  immense  distant  conflagration" 
(Nature,  July  24,  1902,  p.  294).  I  have  been  personally 
informed  that  the  same  aspect  of  the  glows  was  noted  in 
Honolulu,  where  many  thought  that  the  islands  were 
aflame.  The  height  of  the  glow-producing  matter  has  been 
estimated  by  Herschel  to  have  been  at  different  times  from 
five  or  eight  to  thirteen  or  twenty  miles,  whereas  the  at- 
mosphere charged  with  the  volcanic  dust  of  Krakatao  was 
thought  to  have  floated  twenty-five  or  thirty,  and  even  forty 


*  Correspondence  in  London  Daily  Chronicle,  dated  Geneva,  July 
14. 


to 


Photo.  Heilprin 


THE    ISSUING    BLASTS    FROM    THE    CRATER— AUGUST   24,  1902 
Lower  white  clouds  from  base  of  crater 


THE  PHENOMENA  OF  THE   EKUPTION  305 

and  seventy  miles  high,  the  uppermost  particles  of  matter 
being  at  that  time  much  finer  than  those  emitted  by  Pelee. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  in  connection  with  the  low 
position  of  this  glow-cloud  that  its  velocity  of  passage,  com- 
pared with  that  of  the  Krakatao  eruption,  was  also  a  low 
one.  Bishop  tells  us  that  it  arrived  in  Honolulu  ten  days 
after  the  Pelee  outbreak,  whereas  the  Krakatao  glows,  trav- 
ersing twice  the  distance,  arrived  at  the  same  spot  in  only 
two  days'  longer  time.  This  would  give  in  the  one  instance 
a  velocity  of  about  two  and  a  half  times  that  of  the  other,  or 
of  sixty  to  seventy  miles  an  hour  in  the  case  of  the  Kraka- 
tao cloud,  and  of  twenty-three  to  twenty-five  miles  for  the 
cloud  from  Pelee.  There  is  seemingly  no  reason  to  doubt 
that  the  movement  was  in  both  cases  from  the  east  to  the 
west,  conformably  to  the  determinations  that  have  been 
made  that  the  high  cirrus  atmospheric  currents  take  this 
course  in  the  zone  of  (approximately)  twenty  degrees  on 
either  side  of  the  equator.  Krohn  has  also  assumed  from 
the  records  of  Funchal,  Madeira,  that  the  rate  of  travel  of 
the  Pelee  cloud  was  on  an  average  thirty  miles  an  hour 
(Nature,  September  25,  1902,  p.  540).  The  direction  of 
travel,  measured  by  the  time  period,  would  here  also  appear 
to  have  been  from  east  to  west. 

The  Shock  and  Noise  of  the  Eruption. — Humboldt,  in 
dealing  with  the  volcanic  phenomena  of  the  West  Indies, 
makes  the  interesting  observation  that  the  eruption  of  the 
Soufriere,  in  1812,  was  not  as  audible  near  to  the  mountain 
as  it  was  farther  out  to  sea.  It  is  certain  that  very  few 
of  the  inhabitants  of  Fort-de-France  heard  the  explosion 

20 


306  THE   PHENOMENA   OF   THE   EKUPT1ON 

of  Pelee  on  May  8,  or  were  made  conscious  of  it  through 
an  earth-shock  or  pulsation.  Diligent  inquiry  among  all 
classes  of  people  leaves  me  in  doubt  as  to  whether  anybody 
really  heard  it.  Yet  it  is  certain  that  this  eruption  was  un- 
mistakably heard  at  St.  Kitts  and  St.  Thomas,  from  two 
hundred  and  seventy  to  three  hundred  miles  distant,  and  in 
all  or  nearly  all  of  the  islands  of  the  Lesser  Antilles.  The 
explosion  of  May  20  went  similarly  unnoticed  in  Fort-de- 
France,  whereas  the  detonations  reported  for  that  event  in 
St.  Thomas,  St.  Kitts,  Guadeloupe  and  Dominica  were  of 
marked  intensity.  On  the  night  of  August  30  I  was 
located  with  my  associate  at  the  Habitation  Leyritz,  on  the 
northeastern  foot  of  the  volcano,  not  more  than  four  miles 
in  a  direct  line  from  the  crater,  and  with  nothing  interposed 
between  it  and  ourselves  except  the  open,  almost  directly 
descending  slope  of  the  mountain.  When  the  death-dealing 
explosion  took  place  we  were  either  seated  in  the  open  dining- 
hall  or  were  outside  re,marking  upon  the  magnificence  of  the 
electric  display.  Beyond  hearing  one  or  two  "  thuds,"  that 
seemed  to  rise  above  the  general  voice  of  the  volcano,  I 
doubt  if  any  of  our  party  of  four  could  have  localized  the 
explosion  or  series  of  explosions  through  any  particular 
sound  or  detonation.  There  was  surely  no  detonation  that 
was  particularly  striking  at  this  time.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  detonations  heard  at  corresponding  times  at  Port-of- 
Spain,  Trinidad,  at  Carupano,  Venezuela,  and  in  the  island 
of  St.  Kitts — localities  removed  from  two  hundred  and 
seventy-five  to  three  hundred  and  twenty-five  miles  away  in 
opposite  directions — have  been  likened  to  the  firing  of 


THE   PHENOMENA   OF   THE   ERUPTION  307 

heavy  siege-guns.  The  officers  of  the  Fontabelle,  among 
others,  assured  me  of  this  condition  in  Port-of-Spain.  It 
seems  that  the  detonations  were  noted  on  the  Venezuelan 
coast  far  beyond  Carupano,  where  rather  severe  earth- 
quake shocks  were  also  recorded.  The  report  of  United 
States  Consul  Plumacher,  of  Maracaibo,  published  in  the 
Monthly  Weather  Review,  gives  the  important  record  that 
on  the  morning  of  the  first  great  eruption  of  Pelee  (May 
8)  terrific  detonations  were  heard  in  the  region  of  his  post, 
which  was  about  eight  hundred  miles  from  Martinique. 
These  sounds  were  recognized  to  be  not  of  "  heavy  artil- 
lery," which  they  had  been  thought  to  be  by  a  servant,  for 
"I  knew  that  ...  if  all  of  the  cannons  of  Venezuela 
were  fired  together,  they  could  not  produce  such  sounds. 
It  was  not  like  cannonading  with  heavy  siege-guns ;  it  was 
neither  thunder,  nor  the  strange,  unpleasant  subterranean 
sounds  of  convulsions  of  the  earth ;  it  was  as  if  immense 
explosions  were  fired  high  up  in  the  clouds."  This  seeming 
reversal  of  the  detonations  from  the  clouds  was  also  re- 
marked at  Port-of-Spain  as  a  feature  of  the  detonations  ac- 
companying the  August  30  eruption.  With  the  intensity 
of  sound  that  appeared  at  Maracaibo,  it  is  fair  to  presume 
that  the  detonations  were  markedly  audible  two  or  three 
hundred  miles  farther,  or  perhaps  at  a  full  distance  from 
the  seat  of  disturbance  of  a  thousand  miles.  Humboldt 
states  that  "  the  frightful  subterranean  noise,  like  the  thun- 
dering of  cannon,  produced  by  the  violent  eruption  of 
the  latter  volcano  [the  Soufriere  of  St.  Vincent]  on  the 
30th  of  April,  1812,  was  heard  on  the  distant  grass  plains 


308  THE   PHENOMENA   OF   THE   EKUPTION 

(llanos)  of  Calabozo,  and  on  the  shores  of  the  Eio  Apure, 
one  hundred  and  ninety-two  geographical  miles  farther 
to  the  west  than  its  junction  with  the  Orinoco''  (Cosmos, 
Bonn's  Edition,  V,  p.  422)— a  point  fully  eight  hundred 
miles  in  a  direct  line  from  the  island  of  St.  Vincent. 

The  peculiarity  of  the  explosions  being  heard  with 
terrific  intensity  at  points  of  distance  and  hardly,  if  at  all, 
near  by,  was  also  exhibited  to  an  extent  by  the  Krakatao 
eruption,  the  report  from  which  was  carried  to  the  island 
of  Rodriguez,  three  thousand  miles  away — the  farthest  dis- 
tance from  a  point  of  origin  at  which  sound  has  ever  been 
heard,  or  at  least  recorded  (Eoyal  Society  Report,  p.  79). 
General  Strachey,  commenting  upon  this  peculiarity,  be- 
lieves that  "  probably  this  peculiar  phenomenon  was  caused 
by  the  large  amount  of  solid  matter"  which  at  the  time  of 
the  eruptions  "  was  ejected  into  the  atmosphere  by  the 
volcano,  and  which  formed  in  the  lower  strata  of  the  air  a 
screen  of  sufficient  density  to  prevent  the  sound-waves  from 
penetrating  to  those  places  over  which  it  was  more  im- 
mediately suspended"  (p.  79).  This  explanation,  so  con- 
trary to  the  results  that  have  been  obtained  by  Tyndall 
and  others  in  their  experiments  upon  the  transparency  and 
opacity  of  the  atmosphere  in  relation  to  the  passage  of 
sound-waves — the  unexpected  determination  that  the  dis- 
semination of  solid  particles  in  the  air,  the  presence  of  fog, 
rain  or  snow,  etc.,  have  little  or  no  effect  upon  the  trans- 
mission of  sound — it  seems  to  me  can  hardly  be  the  correct 
one ;  nor,  indeed,  can  it  find  application  to  the  conditions 
which  existed  at  the  time  of  the  eruption  of  August  30, 


THE   PHENOMENA   OF   THE   ERUPTION  309 

when  I  was  located  at  the  Habitation  Leyritz.  We  were 
then  practically  under,  and  not  behind,  the  volcanic  cloud, 
through  which  came  quite  distinctly  the  muffled,  but  con- 
tinuous, roar  of  the  volcano.  If  the  obscuration  of  sound 
by  solid  particles  was  really  produced,  the  phenomenon 
must  have  taken  place  within  the  body  or  vent  of  the  vol- 
cano itself.  I  should  rather  believe  that  the  acoustic  inter- 
ruption was  in  some  way  associated  with  an  atmospheric 
disintegration — the  presence  within  it  of  layers  of  different 
thermal  power  and  differing  vaporous  constitution,  pro- 
ducing, to  use  TyndalFs  words,  acoustic  clouds  that  are 
"flocculent  to  sound"  ("Lectures  on  Sound,"  1875,  p.  321).* 
This  would,  however,  still  leave  unexplained  the  transmis- 
sion of  the  sound  to  great  distances,  unless,  indeed,  we  may 
be  permitted  to  assume  that  the  propagation  of  the  sound- 
waves has  been  carried  to  distant  points  through  the  ma- 
terials of  the  solid  crust.  Can  it  be  thought  that  the 
sounds  coming  as  if  thrown  down  by  the  clouds,  noted  by 
Mr.  Plumacher  at  Maracaibo  and  by  others  in  the  island 
of  Trinidad,  were  reflections  from  lofty  "acoustic  clouds," 
to  which  the  sound-waves  were  transmitted  through  the 
central  orifice  of  the  volcano  ?  This  suggestion  is  thrown 
out  with  much  diffidence,  and  only  because  no  ordinarily 

*  The  remarkable  experiments  made  by  the  distinguished  British 
physicist  in  connection  with  the  Trinity  House  have  established  the 
existence  of  conditions  of  absolute  opacity  to  sound  in  an  atmosphere 
that  is  optically  transparent,  and  shown  the  fallacy  of  the  still  com- 
monly accepted  notion  that  a  direct  relation  exists  between  a  clear 
atmosphere  and  the  transmission  of  sound. 


310  THE   PHENOMENA   OF  THE   ERUPTION 

recognized  theory  seems  to   satisfactorily  account   for  the 
facts  as  they  are  present. 

The  remarkable  atmospheric  and  seismic  waves  which 
followed  the  Krakatao  eruption  seem  also  to  have  been  a 
part  of  the  Pelee  or  Soufriere  phenomena  as  well,  but  the 
data  that  appertain  to  them  are  only  meagrely  in  hand,  and 
leave  little  to  be  said  regarding  the  full  intensity  of  the 
phenomena.  Professor  Henry  Kelm  Clayton,  of  the  Blue 
Hill  Observatory,  Hyde  Park,  Massachusetts,  has  noted 
"  some  marked  barographic  undulations  at  Blue  Hill  on  the 
morning  of  May  7,  which,"  it  was  thought,  were  "  perhaps 
connected  with  this  [Martinique]  volcanic  eruption"  (Nature, 
May  22,  1902,  p.  102).  Of  more  startling  significance  is 
the  record  of  the  observatory  of  Zi-ka-Wei,  China,  situated 
almost  exactly  half  around  the  world  from  Martinique, 
which  notes  between  12.25  and  12.35,  Martinique  time,  two 
marked  tremors  or  shocks,  registered  by  the  mercurial  ther- 
mometer acting  as  an  accidental  seismograph.  These,  as 
well  as  the  magnetic  perturbations  observed  earlier  in  the 
day,  and  which  so  closely  correspond  in  time  with  the  Pelee 
eruption,  are  referred  by  M.  de  Moidrey  to  the  Martinique 
disturbance,  and  it  is  assumed  from  the  hour  at  which  the 
phenomena  were  observed  that  the  time  of  propagation  of 
the  earth- wave  was  four  hours  and  twenty-seven  minutes, 
giving  a  velocity  of  approximately  twenty-five  miles  per 
minute  (Comptes  Rendus,  August  11,  1902,  p.  322).  This, 
barring  the  Krakatao  occurrence,  is  the  only  instance  that 
is  known  to  me  of  an  earth-tremor  or  pulsation  having  been 
propagated  clean  through  the  centre  of  the  earth  to  the 


THE  PHENOMENA  OF  THE  EEUPTION  311 

antipodal  surface.  The  seismographs  of  Great  Britain  give 
no  registry  for  the  Pelee  eruption,  having  remained  at  rest, 
according  to  Professor  Milne,  from  the  8th  until  the  llth 
of  May. 

The  Nature  of  the  Destroying  Blast.^h\.  an  article 
published  in  the  August  (1902)  number  of  McClure's  Mag- 
azine I  expressed  the  opinion  that  the  destroying  element 
of  the  blast  was  seemingly  one  of  the  heavier  (carbon  ?) 
gases,  and  that  with  it  the  force  of  the  superheated  steam 
was  acting  only  in  a  minor  degree.  At  that  time  there 
appeared  to  me  much  to  support  this  view,  although  I  did 
not  hesitate  to  say  that  the  evidence  upon  which  it  was 
based  was  far  from  conclusive.  Particularly  needful  for 
this  demonstration  was  the  proof  of  the  actual  existence  of 
such  gas  acting  with  the  shattering  blast ;  but  up  to  this 
time  none  has  been  found.  The  only  gases  of  consequence 
whose  presence  has  so  far  been  detected  among  the  products, 
whether  gaseous  or  mineral,  of  the  Pelee  eruptions  are  the 
sulphurous  and  sulphuretted-hydrogen,  the  former  alone 
being  present  in  any  quantity.*  Sulphur  vapors  or  fumes 
were  oppressively  diffused  through  the  atmosphere  of  Saint 

*  Dr.  Hovey  lias  called  attention  to  the  significant  absence  of 
chlorine  gas  in  the  analyses  that  have  been  made  by  Hillebrand  of 
the  St.  Yincent  ash,  and  assumes  that  this  may  be  an  indication  that 
fresh  water,  and  not  the  water  from  the  ocean,  was  the  prime  insti- 
gator of  the  volcanic  movements.  The  same  absence  of  chlorine  or 
of  chlorine  salts  distinguishes  the  Martinique  ash.  I,  however,  found 
some  of  the  ejected  boulders  or  bombs,  both  in  the  valley  of  the  Rivi- 
eres Blanche-Seche  and  the  basin  of  the  Lac  des  Palmistes,  carrying 
crusts  or  patches  of  greenish-yellow  iron-chlorid. 


312  THE   PHENOMENA   OF  THE   EKUPTION 

Pierre  for  the  better  part  of  two  weeks  before  the  main 
catastrophe  (see  Chapter  III) — horses  and  other  animals 
dying  from  it,  and  respiration  being  made  difficult  for  man 
— and  at  the  time  of  his  latest  visit  to  the  crater-border,  in 
the  month  of  October,  Lacroix  found  them  issuing  in  such 
quantities,  in  fumarolic  blasts  from  the  crevices  of  the  cen- 
tral cone,  as  to  make  a  close  approach  dangerous.  I,  my- 
self, several  times  detected  the  sulphur  vapors  five  or  six 
miles  out  at  sea,  but,  singularly  enough,  failed  to  note  their 
presence,  except  to  a  very  minute  degree,  when  standing  at 
the  rim  of  the  crater.  On  the  other  hand,  sulphur  in  the 
falling  ash  of  the  eruption  of  August  30  was  clearly  in 
evidence  at  the  Habitation  Leyritz,  and  we  are  informed  by 
Dr.  Berte  (La  Geographic,  September  15),  of  the  Pouyer- 
Quertier,  that  the  air  was  densely  charged  with  it  when  the 
destroying  cloud  swept  out  from  Pelee  on  the  fatal  May  8. 
From  these  conditions  one  has  a  right  to  conclude  that  this 
gas  may  have  played  an  important  part  as  an  assistant  in 
the  destruction  of  life  at  Saint  Pierre,  even  though  an 
equally  complete  annihilation  might  have  been  brought 
about  without  it. 

The  opportunity  that  was  presented  to  me  at  the  time 
of  the  second  death-dealing  eruption  of  Mont  Pelee  of 
almost  immediately  visiting  the  field  of  destruction,  of  in- 
terrogating a  number  of  the  severely  wounded,  and  of  ex- 
amining the  bodies  and  clothing  of  some  of  the  unfortunate 
dead,  has  forced  upon  me  a  somewhat  different  conclusion 
as  to  the  nature  or  composition  of  the  tornadic  blast  from 
that  which  I  formerly  held,  for  it  is  now  made  clear  that 


*•    m 


THE   PHENOMENA   OF   THE   EEUPTION  313 

the  acting  force — to  whatever  extent  it  may  have  been  aided 
by  other  forces  or  agents  whose  testimony  does  not  appear 
— was  superheated  steam,  or  superheated  steam  charged  with 
hot  ashes  and  lapilli.  The  evidence  proving  this,  both  at 
Morne  Balai  and  Ajoupa-Bouillon,  and,  as  Lacroix  found  it 
later  at  Morne  Rouge,  is,  it  seems  to  me,  conclusive.  This 
steam  was  shot  out  as  a  violent  blast,  and  its  mechanical  force, 
withering  heat  and  possible  mixture  with  other  gas,  shattered, 
asphyxiated  and  scorched ;  and  where  charged  with  incan- 
descent particles  of  solid  matter,  as  in  that  part  of  its  course 
which  overwhelmed  Morne  Rouge,  also  burned.  Neither  at 
Morne  Balai  nor  at  Ajoupa-Bouillon  did  I  find  the  faintest 
indication  of  anything  having  burned  with  a  flame,  or 
having  been  carbonized,  not  even  the  dry  palm-thatching  of 
the  cases.  The  trees  that  were  left  standing  were  dry  and 
largely  stripped,  and  in  the  less  destroyed  zone  the  leaves 
hung  to  the  branches,  shrivelled  up  as  though  having  been 
rapidly  passed  through  a  dry-heat  furnace  or  a  scorch-blast. 
The  sap  from  the  twigs  was  completely  gone,  and  the 
branches  and  branchlets  broke  square  across.  There  was 
nothing  to  indicate  the  passage  of  combustible  gases,  and  I 
failed  to  find — although  my  examination  was  not  made  .with 
true  minuteness — evidence  of  the  presence  or  action  of  any 
of  the  terrestrial  gases.  A  number  of  inquiries  elicited  the 
impression  that  sulphur  was  the  only  gas  whose  presence 
was  detected  in  the  passing  storm,  but  even  its  action  does 
not  seem  to  have  been  badly  felt.  The  scorching,  reddening 
or  boiling,  and  tumefaction  of  the  bodies  plainly  showed  the 
terribly  swift  and  sure  work  of  the  passing  steam  and  hot- 


314  THE   PHENOMENA   OF   THE   EEUPTION 

air  ferment.  The  opening  of  a  door  or  window  only  for  an 
inch  and  for  an  instant  was  sufficient  to  invite  the  work  of 
death.  In  this  second  great  eruption  of  Mont  Pelee  the  de- 
stroying force,  as  is  shown  by  the  number  of  frail  houses 
that  were  left  standing  in  or  near  the  path  of  the  storm,  was 
less  powerful  than  on  May  8,  but  its  zone  of  destruction  was 
far  greater,  beginning  almost  immediately  in  a  broad  sweep 
over  the  crest  of  the  volcano.  It  may  be  positively  assumed 
that  adjacent  to  the  steam  zone  on  either  side  was  a  zone  of 
simple  hot  air  or  dry  destruction,  in  which,  doubtless,  many 
also  perished,  for  even  here  the  temperature  must  have 
ranged  well  into  the  hundreds  of  degrees.  Professor  La- 
croix  has,  from  an  inspection  of  metallic  objects  that  have 
not  been  fused  or  undergone  any  material  alteration,  at- 
tempted to  ascertain  the  degree  of  heat  of  the  Saint  Pierre 
blast.  This,  as  determined  by  the  non-fusion  of  the  copper 
telephone  wires  and  plates,  iron  railings,  etc.,  would  seem 
to  have  been  not  over  1900°.  This  method  of  determining 
the  temperature  is  not  necessarily  a  conclusive  one,  as  the 
very  rapid  passage  of  a  heated  current  over  even  readily 
combustible  objects  might  not  inflame  or  fuse,  whereas  a 
slower  movement  would.*  But  even  with  an  air-temperature 
of  no  more  than  seven  hundred  to  eight  hundred  degrees 
one  need  invoke  the  aid  of  no  special  agent  to  explain  the 
condition  of  difficult  or  impossible  respiration  which  has  so 
frequently  been  testified  to  by  those  who  escaped  or  survived 

*  Lacroix  fully  recognizes  this  condition,  and  he  states  that  car- 
tridges, rubber  tubes,  etc.,  were  passed  or  jumped  over  by  the  hot 
current. 


THE   PHENOMENA   OF   THE   EBUPTION  315 

their  wounds  for  a  while.  Assuredly  the  sensation  must 
have  been  one  of  no  air  to  breathe,  and  one  of  the  results 
the  burning  or  even  excoriating  of  the  lining  of  the  throat 
and  bronchi.  It  was  like  breathing  a  furnace-fire,  especially 
where  the  blast  was  charged  with  burning  matter. 

Professor  Lacroix  accepts  the  same  interpretation  of  the 
destroying  force  that  wrecked  Morne  Rouge  as  I  have  for 
that  of  Ajoupa-Bouillon,  Morne  Balai  and  Morne  Capot : 
"  It  is  not  doubtful  that  the  destruction  was  due  to  the 
action  of  a  cloud  of  aqueous  vapor  highly  charged  with  hot 
ashes.  There  is  no  reason  to  seek  for  a  combustible  gas ; 
the  trees  are  not  burned  and  the  palms  from  which  the 
leaves  have  not  been  forcibly  torn  show  these  to  be  simply 
dried  out"  (Comptes  Rendus,  October  27,  1902,  p.  672).  It 
is  not  difficult  to  apply  this  lesson  of  the  later  eruption  of 
Pelee  to  the  special  conditions  of  the  Saint  Pierre  catas- 
trophe. With  a  tornadic  blast  of  the  character  of,  but 
more  powerful  than  that  which  destroyed  the  five  or  more 
towns  and  villages  on  August  30,  it  is  easy  to  assume  the 
destruction  of  the  city,  although  the  swiftness  and  com- 
pleteness of  this  destruction  will  always  appear  surprising. 
We  may,  perhaps,  assume  as  a  factor  in  this  complete  de- 
struction the  propagation  of  a  number  of  serially  and 
rapidly  following  explosions — such  as  Bunsen,  Dixon  and 
others  have  shown  to  exist  in  an  ordinarily  exploding  gas- 
cloud.*  These  would  surely  greatly  multiply  the  force  of 

*  See  the  paper  by  Harold  B.  Dixon  :  "  On  the  Movements  of  the 
Flame  in  the  Explosion  of  Gases."  Proceedings  Eoyal  Society  of 
London,  LXX,  September  20,  1902,  pp.  471  et  seq. 


316  THE   PHENOMENA   OF   THE   EEUPTION 

the  exploding  or  initial  cloud.  Professors  Sekiya  and  Ki- 
kuchi,  discussing  the  Bandai-San  eruption  (Journal  of  the 
College  of  Science,  III,  1890)  properly  remark  that  "the 
tremendous  explosions  of  steam  at  quick  intervals  lasting  for 
about  a  minute  produced  violent  disturbances  of  the  air,  con- 
sequent upon  the  sudden  radial  expansion  of  the  liberated 
volumes  of  steam  .  .  .  The  eruption  of  Bandai-San  may 
be  aptly  compared  to  the  firing  of  a  tremendous  gun — such 
a  one,  however,  as  can  only  be  forged  by  nature."  These 
authors  also  refer  the  immediate  cause  of  the  eruptions  to 
"  the  sudden  expansion  of  steam  pent  up  within  the  moun- 
tain." There  were  no  discharges  following  the  first  ex- 
plosion. 

The  recognition  of  the  nature  of  the  destroying  tornadic 
blasts  which  in  such  swift  measure  swept  off  upwards  of 
thirty  thousand  inhabitants  from  the  surface  of  the  earth 
still  leaves  untouched  some  important  considerations  bearing 
upon  the  explosions  themselves.  What  was  the  exact  seat 
of  the  explosion  or  explosions  ?  Was  the  main  explosion 
in  the  conduit  of  the  volcano,  whence  the  great  internal 
detonation  might  have  been  conceived  to  pass ;  or  was  its 
locus  immediately  above  the  crown  of  the  volcano,  with  its 
ascensive  energy  blanketed  by  the  opaque  cloud  of  steam 
and  ashes  overhanging?  It  is  not  easy  to  explain  the 
downwardly-directed  or  oblique  shots,  unless,  indeed,  we 
assume  some  such  sort  of  down-throwing  as  the  result  of 
pressure  from  above  or  behind.  Mr.  George  Kennan,  in 
his  work,  "  The  Tragedy  of  Pelee"  (1902),  has  ably  discussed 
this  aspect  of  the  problem,  and  he  compares  the  explosion 


THE   PHENOMENA   OF   THE   EEUPTION  317 

to  other  explosions  whicfi  have  had  their  directions  or  in- 
tensities determined  by  the  presence  of  an  unyielding  wall 
or  barrier  on  one  side  of  the  blast.  The  "extraordinary 
violence  of  the  lateral  blast  caused  by  the  explosion  of  the 
Toulon  powder-magazine,  in  March,  1899,"  —  which,  as 
stated  by  Colonel  J.  T.  Bucknill  (Engineering,  London, 
May  26,  1899,  pp.  665-666),  appears  to  have  exerted  its 
main  force  in  one  direction  ("  something  like  an  accidentally 
formed  fougasse"),  and  covered  the  ground  for  a  full  kilo- 
metre in  the  path  of  its  course  with  rock-debris  and  masonry, 
while  hurling  blocks  of  stone  weighing  four  hundred- weight 
to  a  distance  of  two  kilometres, — is  justly  brought  in  for 
comparison,  and  there  is  hardly  a  question  that  it  approxi- 
mately supplies  the  explanation  to  the  Pelee  blast.  Colonel 
Bucknill  describes  the  Toulon  magazine  as  being  "  so  solidly 
built  that  it  practically  formed  a  sort  of  a  cannon  or  mortar ;" 
and  this  is  virtually  what  we  find  or  can  assume  to  have 
been  the  case  with  Pelee.  The  condition  of  explosion  may 
then  be  stated  as  follows :  A  volume  of  steam  with  intense 
explosive  energy  rising  to  the  crater-mouth,  blowing  out  in 
its  first  paroxysm  a  part  of  the  crater-floor,  and  then  ex- 
ploding in  free  air  under  a  heavily  depressing  cushion  of 
ascending  steam  and  ash,  and  with  surrounding  walls  of 
rock  on  three  sides  and  more  to  form  an  inner  casing  to 
nature's  giant  mortar.  The  blast  was  forced  through  the 
open  cut,  or  lower  lip  of  the  crater,  that  was  directed  to 
Saint  Pierre.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  "  overflow' ' 
eruption  of  August  30  only  took  place  after  the  crater-floor 
had  been  elevated,  as  we  are  informed  by  Lacroix,  by  per- 


318  THE   PHENOMENA   OF   THE   EKUPTION 

haps  seven  hundred  to  nine  hundred  feet  as  the  result  of 
the  accumulation  of  volcanic  ejecta. 

The  black  appearance  and  "  rolling"  of  the  destroy- 
ing clouds  are,  as  most  investigators  have  already  indicated, 
due  to  charging  with  large  quantities  of  ashes  and  other 
solid  particles.  It  is  generally  conceded  that  the  brilliant 
red  glow  which  was  noted  in  it  by  some  observers,  especially 
in  its  advanced  position,  was  merely  the  loom  of  the  numer- 
ous incandescent  particles  that  were  contained  within  the 
cloud — the  cloud  appearing  as  if  burning  with  flame.  But 
may  it  not  be  assumed  that  a  part  of  this  red  coloring  was 
due  to  that  property  in  steam  under  pressure  which  at  times 
permits  it  to  acquire  a  red  color  to  transmitted  light?  This 
condition  was  pointed  out  by  Principal  J.  D.  Forbes  in  the 
case  of  escaping  steam  from  a  locomotive  as  far  back  as 
1839  (Transactions  Koyal  Society  of  Edinburgh,  14,  1839, 
p.  371).  Such  a  luminous  red  mass  might  readily  have  been 
taken  for  a  "  descending  wall  of  fire,"  such  as  some  seamen, 
like  Captain  Freeman  of  the  Roddam,  claim  to  have  seen. 
It  is  interesting  to  note  that  a  hot,  suffocating  blast,  evi- 
dently of  the  type  of  that  issuing  from  Mont  Pelee,  was 
noted  by  Pond  and  Percy  Smith  in  their  investigations  of 
the  Tarawera  eruption  (Transactions  New  Zealand  Insti- 
tute, 1886  (1887),  p.  351). 


IS 

Q 

3 
V 

I 


APPENDIX 

LETTER    FROM   A    PROFESSOR    IN    THE    LYCEE    OF    SAINT    PIERRE 

{Translated  from  the  Bulletin  of  the  Societe  Astronomique  de  France) 

SAINT  PIERRE,  Saturday,  May  3,  1902,  5.45  A.M. 

We  are  in  the  midst  of  a  full  eruption  of  Mont  Pelee ;  all  night 
the  volcano  has  been  sputtering  ashes  over  the  city,  which  appeared 
this  morning  covered  with  a  grayish  shroud  ;  from  time  to  time 
muffled  detonations  are  heard.  It  is  several  days  since  the  old 
volcano  has  been  manifesting  its  desire  to  return  to  life,  or,  according 
to  other  theories,  the  beginning  of  its  death-struggles,  by  the  outbursts 
of  vapor.  The  ancient  lake  has  dried  up  ;  another  has  formed  which 
boils  like  molten  metal.  But  nothing  has  been  as  impressive  as  the 
spectacle  presented  yesterday. 

When  I  went  to  the  Lycee  at  eight  o'clock  the  mountain  was 
clear  of  all  clouds  and  vapor.  At  the  end  of  my  lecture  I  noticed 
the  tutors  and  some  of  their  pupils  pointing  out  the  mountain  to  each 
other.  I  joined  them.  Three  enormous  balls  of  very  compact, 
grayish  smoke  have  just  poured  out  of  the  crater ;  the  eruption  con- 
tinues. The  wind  has  carried  these  vapors  towards  the  Dominica  Chan- 
nel. At  noon  the  eruption  was  renewed  with  greater  severity.  At 
two  o'clock  stones,  plainly  visible,  were  hurled  out ;  at  the  same  hour 
in  the  morning  your  mother  and  sister  were  awakened  by  a  detona- 
tion ;  our  dogs  barked.  I  had  been  sleeping  soundly,  but  my  slum- 
bers were  interrupted  by  a  strange  dream  and  a  smell  of  sulphur. 
Ashes  were  raining  down  on  the  house  itself  and  the  furniture  is  full 
of  them.  We  went  out  on  the  boulevard  to  see  what  was  happening. 

Xine-forty-five.  The  ashes  blind  us  ;  Mont  Pelee  is  completely 
invisible,  being  hidden  by  an  impenetrable  layer  of  vapors.  All  the 

319 


320  APPENDIX 

surroundings  are  full  of  smoke,  which  sticks  to  the  trees  and  falls 
in  an  impalpable  powder.  We  continue  on  our  course  in  order  to  see 
what  has  happened  to  the  Saussines. 

Near  the  Jardin  des  Plantes  it  becomes  imprudent  for  your 
mother  and  sister  to  proceed  further.  I  continue.  They  cross  the 
Savane  to  see  the  Armamets ;  a  bull  which  has  escaped  rushes 
through  the  streets  as  though  mad ;  the  little  birds  hardly  know  on 
which  branch  to  perch ;  the  pigeons  are  cowering  in  their  houses;  in 
the  yards  hens  and  ducks  remain  in  their  coops ;  the  appearance  of 
the  country  is  dismal ;  it  is  grayer  than  when  it  rains ;  in  fact,  it  is 
raining,  only  it  rains  ashes. 

I  arrived  at  the  house  of  the  Saussines;  all  was  closed.  I 
knocked ;  the  door  opened  but  was  quickly  closed  again ;  cinders 
cover  the  floor,  the  furniture,  and  penetrate  even  into  the  drawers. 
We  relate  our  experiences ;  the  night  has  been  a  very  anxious  one, 
for  it  seemed  as  though  we  were  awaiting  suffocation.  I  took  a  cup 
of  coffee  and  we  then  went  off  with  Saussine.  My  hat  was  covered 
with  ashes  to  a  thickness  of  several  millimetres ;  my  alpaca  vest  was 
gray,  my  trousers  and  my  shoes  the  same  color. 

From  the  Lycee  it  was  almost  impossible  to  distinguish  the  sea,  so 
dense  were  the  emanations.  People  asked,  "Where  would  it  end?" 
for  their  eyes,  ears  and  noses  were  filled,  and  this  state  of  affairs  was 
becoming  intolerable.  The  water  of  the  Goyave  had  in  part  given 
out.  My  opposite  neighbors  left  this  morning.  They  went,  as  they 
said,  up  to  Morne  d'Orange  in  order  to  breathe  more  freely.  It  was 
a  mistake,  for  the  conditions  there  were  the  same. 

How  did  the  next  night  pass  ?  The  inhabitants  of  Sainte-Philo- 
mene  and  of  Precheur  were  terrified,  and  women  holding  their  little 
children  in  their  arms  were  to  be  seen  passing  by. 

Ten  o'clock.  The  drum  calls.  We  were  the  only  ones  to  hold 
classes.  But  the  Governor  has  just  arrived ;  he  has  selected  a  com- 
mission. (The  ashes  had  reached  Lamentin  in  the  south.)  All  the 
stores  are  closed.  A  dispatch  reports  that  Fort-de-France,  too,  is 
receiving  a  fall  of  ashes.  It  would  appear  from  the  usual  phenomena 


APPENDIX  321 

that  we  can  expect  a  flow  of  lava  ;  but  the  air  becomes  more  difficult 
to  breathe. 

Noon.     At   two  o'clock  there  will   perhaps   be  something  new 
again ;  but  I  hasten  to  mail  this  letter. 


THE    CATACLYSM    OP   MAT    8   AS    WITNESSED   BY   M.    ROGER   ARNOUX, 
MEMBER   OF   THE    ASTRONOMICAL    SOCIETY   OP    FRANCE 

(Addressed  to  Camille  Flammarion  and  published  in  the  "  Bulletin  de  la 
Societe  Astronomique  de  France"  August \  1902) 

"  FORT-DE-FRANCE,  MARTINIQUE,  le  3  juillet  1902. 
"CHER  MAITRE, 

"Seul,  survivant*  de  tous  mes  braves  collegues  de  la  Societe 
Astronomique  de  France  habitant  Saint-Pierre,  le  devoir  me  prescrit 
de  vous  fa  ire  part  de  la  disparition  de  tous  ces  Societaires,  y  compris 
mon  malheureux  frere  Charles,  employe  de  la  Compagnie  Generate 
Transatlantique.  Pour  moi,  je  ne  dois  mon  salut  qu'au  pur  hasard  qui 
me  conduisit  sur  ma  propriete  du  Parnasse,  la  veille  au  soir,  7  mai, 
personne  n'ayant  pu  s'echapper  de  la  ville  pendant  1'eifroyable  sinistre 
du  8  mai  dernier. 

"  Toute  ma  famille  a  ete  aneantie  par  le  coup  fatal,  mon  pere,  ma 
mere,  mon  frere,  ma  soeur ;  ils  etaient  restes  a  Saint-Pierre. 

"  J'ai  1'honneur  de  vous  transmettre  le  rapport  ci-dessous  sur  ce 
que  fai  vu. 

"Yeuillez   agreer,  cher  Maitre,  1'assurance  de   ma  tres  grande 

veneration. 

"  Signe :  ROGER  ARNOUX." 

Je  remonterai  dans  ce  recit  de  deux  ans  en  arriere. 
Le  lundi  de  la  Pentecote  1900,  etant  alles  en  partie  de  plaisir  au 
sommet  de  la  Montagne,  nous  pumes  decouvrir,  mon  frere  et  moi,  ainsi 

*  Nous  avons  vu  que  fort  heureusement  deux  autres  de  nos  Societaires 
actuellement  a  Paris:  M.  le  docteur  Remy  Neris  et  M.  Th.  Celestin,  avaient 
pris  la  decision  de  s'eloigner  du  volcan. — C.  F. 

21 


322  APPENDIX 

que  les  guides  qui  nous  accompagnaient,  1'emplacement  de  deux  petites 
solfatares  qui  s'etaient  ouvertes  dans  le  cratere  actuel  dit  1'Etang-Sec. 
Nous  vimes  nettement  deux  espaces  de  30  ou  40  metres  de  rayon 
completement  denudes,  les  arbres  couches  et  brules  et  le  sol  parseme 
d'une  matiere  jaune  que  nous  pensions  etre  du  soufre  ;  tandis  que  lors 
de  notre  premiere  ascension  1'annee  precedente,  le  meme  site  oifrait  le 
spectacle  de  la  plus  riche  vegetation.  Toutefois  nous  n'avons  vu  la 
moindre  petite  vapeur  indiquant  que  ces  matieres  pussent  etre  en 
combustion. 

L'annee  d'apres,  quelques  amis  ayant  fait  une  nouvelle  ascension, 
m'assurerent  avoir  vu  au  meme  endroit  cinq  ou  six  petites  fumerolles 
d'ou  s'echappait  une  fumee  verdatre  empestant  le  soufre.  Mais  ce 
n'est  qu'au  mois  de  mars  de  1'annee  presente  que  les  phenomenes  se 
manifesterent  d'une  fagon  appreciable  et  qu'on  commenga  a  en  parler 
a  Saint-Pierre. 

Des  habitants  des  hauteurs  du  Precheur  racontaient  sentir  presque 
continuellement  une  forte  odeur  de  soufre,  et  un  de  mes  amis  habitant 
le  quartier  du  Morne-d' Orange,  me  certifia  avoir  vu  de  nuit  vers  la  fin 
du  mois  de  mars  une  assez  vive  lueur  sortant  de  1'entonnoir  du  cratere. 

Le  temps  etant  demeure  tres  nuageux  pendant  tout  le  mois 
d'avril,  personne  ne  put  se  rendre  compte  du  travail  qui  se  faisait  sur 
la  Montagne.  Certains  habitants  du  Precheur  disaient  avoir  entendu 
des  detonations,  d'autres  avoir  vu  du  feu,  etc.  .  .  .  et  ce  n'est  que 
dans  la  nuit  du  25  avril  qu'on  fut  convaincu  que  la  Montagne  s'etait 
rallumee. 

Etant  couche  vers  les  onze  heures  et  demie  de  la  nuit  du  25  avril, 
je  fus  reveille  par  une  formidable  detonation  que  je  pris  tout  d'abord 
pour  un  coup  de  foudre,  le  meme  fait  s' etant  reproduit  un  instant 
apres,  je  me  levai  pour  examiner  le  ciel,  trouvant  singulier  un  orage 
au  mois  d'avril.  Sitot  que  j'eus  regarde  la  Montagne,  je  compris  qu'il 
s'agissait  d'une  eruption.  De  1'endroit  ou  je  savais  etre  le  cratere,  je 
vis  s'echappant  une  immense  colonne  de  fumee  dont  le  sommet 
s'inflechissait  dans  la  direction  Nord-Est.  Bientot  apres,  ce  furent 
des  detonations  et  des  grondements  continuels,  tandis  que  de  la 


APPENDIX  323 

colonne  de  vapeur  partaient  des  etincelles  electriques.  Nous  resumes 
alors  une  pluie  d'environ  un  demi-centimetre  d'un  sable  gris  a  grains 
presque  aussi  forts  que  le  plomb  de  chasse  appele  cendrille.  L'erup- 
tion  dura  jusque  vers  une  heure  et  demie  du  matin  et  parut  se  ralentir 
pour  de  nouveau  recommencer  vers  les  cinq  heures,  nous  lan$ant  cette 
fois  un  sable  plus  gris  que  la  nuit  et  dont  les  grains  etaient  presque 
impalpables. 

Les  jours  suivants,  on  voyait,  surmontant  la  Montague,  un  gros 
nuage  d'un  gris  bleuatre  ayant  absolument  1'aspect  d'un  gros  nuage 
orageux,  mais  ni  grondemeuts,  ni  orages,  ce  qui  faisait  penser  que  sans 
doute  le  cratere  etant  largement  ouvert,  les  phenomenes  ne  pouvaient 
qu'aller  en  diminuant. 

Le  matin  du  2  mai,  vers  les  neuf  heures,  les  meines  faits  signales 
pour  la  premiere  eruption,  se  reproduisirent  (detonations,  grondements, 
cendres,  etc.  .  .  .)  et  je  pus  m'apercevoir  que  le  cratere  s'etait  elargi 
considerablement  ou,  pour  mieux  dire,  que  d'autres  bouches  s'etaient 
ouvertes,  mais  a  peu  de  distance  de  la  premiere  et  toujours  dans  le 
meme  cirque  de  1'Etang-Sec,  large  d'environ  300  metres  et  situe  a  peu 
pres  a  800  metres  d'altitude. 

Ce  n'est  que  le  5  mai  que  la  decharge  du  cratere  commenc.a  a  se 
faire  par  la  coulee  de  la  Riviere-Blanche.  De  fortes  vagues  d'une 
sorte  de  boue  noiratre  surmontee  d'une  epaisse  vapeur  descendaient 
de  la  Montague,  et  1'apres-midi  de  ce  jour,  I'TJsine  Guerin  etait 
ensevelie  sous  1'une  d'elles. 

Le  lendemain  6  mai,  1'eruption  semblait  entrer  dans  une  periode 
d'accalmie,  les  vapeurs  degagees  du  cratere  ayant  une  moindre  force 
ascensionnelle,  de  sorte  que  tous  pensaient  que  1'eruption  irait 
declinant,  vu  que  la  decharge  se  faisait  normalement. 

Le  7  au  matin,  me  trouvant  a  la  rhumerie  Berte,  je  causai  avec 
le  directeur  du  cable  anglais  (M.  Miller)  que  m'apprit  que  toutes  les 
communications  telegraphiques  entre  la  Martinique  et  les  iles  voisines 
etaient  coupees.  L'idee  d'un  cataclysme  me  traversa  1'esprit,  car  le 
directeur  du  cable  lui-meme  attribuait  ces  ruptures  de  cables  a  des 
depressions  sous-marines. 


324  APPENDIX 

Dans  I'apres-midi,  on  entendit  a  Saint-Pierre,  venant  de  la  direc- 
tion sud,  des  detonations  se  succedant  a  de  courts  intervalles  et  pro- 
voquant  des  vibrations  aeriennes  faisant  trembloter  les  bibelots  situes 
aux  etages.  Le  bruit  courut  alors  que  c'etait  un  navire  qui  s'exergait 
dans  les  eaux  de  Fort-de-France,  chose  d'autant  plus  croyable  que  le 
semaphore  avait  effectivement  signale  un  navire  de  guerre  dans  le  Sud. 

Pour  moi,  je  trouvai  etrange  la  violence  des  commotions  aeriennes. 

Ayant  quitte  Saint-Pierre  le  soir  vers  les  cinq  heures,  j'assistai  au 
spectacle  suivant.  D'enormes  roches  nettement  visibles  etaient  pro- 
jetees  en  1'air  par  le  cratere,  a  une  hauteur  considerable,  si  bien 
qu'elles  mettaient  environ  un  quart  de  minute  a  retomber,  decrivant 
un  arc  les  langant  bien  au  dela  du  morne  Lacroix,  point  culminant  du 
massif. 

Yers  les  huit  heures  du  soir,  nous  vimes  pour  la  premiere  fois  au 
sommet  du  cratere  des  feux  fixes  d'une  flainme  tres  blanche.  Peu 
apres,  quelques  detonations  semblables  a  celles  entendues  a  Saint- 
Pierre,  se  produisirent,  venant  toujours  du  Sud,  ce  qui  me  confirma 
dans  1'idee  que  j'avais  deja  de  crateres  sous-marins  langant  des  gaz 
detonant  au  contact  de  1'air. 

Dans  la  nuit  du  7  au  8,  m'etant  couche  vers  les  neuf  heures,  je 
me  reveillai  peu  apres  au  milieu  d'une  chaleur  suffocante  et  tout 
convert  de  transpiration ;  sachant  mes  nerfs  agaces,  je  pensai  a  un 
malaise  et  me  recouchai. 

Vers  les  onze  heures  trente-cinq  je  me  reveillai  a  nouveau  ayant 
senti  une  secousse  de  tremblement  de  terre,  mais  comme  personne 
n'avait  ete  reveille  chez  moi,  je  crus  encore  avoir  ete  trompe  par  mes 
nerfs  et  me  recouchai  pour  ne  me  relever  que  le  matin  a  sept  heures 
et  demie. 

Mon  premier  regard  a  1'exterieur  fut  pour  le  cratere  que  je 
trouvai  assez  calme,  les  vapeurs  se  repliant  tres  vite  sous  la  pression 
d'un  vent  d'Est.  Vers  les  huit  heures,  etant  encore  a  regarder  le 
cratere,  j'en  vis  sortir  une  petite  vague,  suivie  deux  secondes  apres 
d'une  nappe  considerable  qui  unit  mains  de  trois  secondes  d  couvrir  jusqu'd 
la  Pointe  du  Carbet,  en  meme  temps  qu'elle  se  trouvait  deja  a  notre 


APPENDIX  325 

zenith,  se  developpant  par  consequent  presque  aussi  vite  en  hauteur 
qu'en  longueur.  C'etaient  des  vapeurs  en  tout  point  semblables  a 
celles  lancees  presque  tout  le  temps  par  le  cratere.  D'un  gris  violet, 
elles  paraissaient  tres  denses,  car  bien  que  douees  d'une  force  ascen- 
sionnelle  inimaginable,  elles  conservaient  jusqu'au  zenith  leurs  som- 
mets  arrondis.  Au  milieu  de  ce  chaos  de  vapeurs  petillaient 
d'innombrables  etincelles  electriques,  en  meme  temps  que  les  oreilles 
etaient  assourdies  par  un  fracas  epouvantable. 

J'eus  alors  Fimpression  bien  nette  que  Saint-Pierre  avait  ete 
pulverise,  et  je  pleurai  sur-le-champ  tous  les  miens  que  j'y  avais  laisses 
la  veille  au  soir.  Comme  le  monstre  semblait  se  rapprocher  de  nous? 
mes  gens,  pris  de  panique,  se  mirent  a  courir  sur  un  petit  morne 
dominant  ma  maison,  me  priant  d'en  faire  autant.  A  ce  moment  un 
vent  terrible  d'aspiration  se  leva,  arrachant  les  feuilles  des  arbres  et 
cassant  les  petites  branches,  nous  opposant  meme  une  forte  resistance 
a  la  course.  A  peine  etions-nous  arrives  au  sommet  du  mamelon  que 
le  soleil  s'obscurcit  tout  d'un  coup,  faisant  place  a  une  noirceur  presque 
complete.  Alors  seulement,  nous  resumes  des  cailloux  dont  le  plus 
gros  mesurait  environ  2  centimetres  de  diametre  moyen,  en  meme 
temps  que  sur  la  ville  de  Saint-Pierre  et  dans  la  direction  a  peu  pres 
ou  je  savais  trouver  le  quartier  du  Mouillage,  nous  vimes  une  colonne 
de  feu  semblant  animee  d'un  mouvement  de  translation  et  d'un  autre 
mouvement  de  rotation,  laquelle  trombe  de  feu  j'estime  au  moins  a 
400  metres  de  hauteur.  Ce  phenomene  dura  de  2  a  3  minutes.  Peu 
apres  les  pierres,  une  pluie  de  boue  s'abattit  sur  nous,  couchant  au  ras 
du  sol  toutes  les  herbes  et  meme  les  petits  arbustes,  puis  ce  fut  une 
pluie  torrentielle  durant  environ  un  demi-heure. 

En  tout  le  phenomene  avait  dure  a  peu  pres  une  heure,  apres  quoi 
le  soleil  perga. 

La  vague  que  je  vis  s'abattre  sur  Saint-Pierre  devait  etre  com- 
posee  d'une  matiere  liquide  a  une  temperature  considerable,  lequel 
liquide  a  du  se  vaporiser  au  contact  de  1'air,  non  cependant  d'une  fa^on 
absolument  instantanee,  car  je  remarquai  durant  les  deux  secondes 
que  mit  la  vague  a  couvrir  la  ville,  comme  une  petite  pointe  a  1'avant 


326  APPENDIX 

de  ladite  vague :  c'est  du  reste  la  seule  fac.on  de  s'expliquer  le  fait,  car 
physiquement  parlant,  on  ne  pent  guere  concevoir  un  gaz  doue  de 
deux  forces  contraires,  force  de  chute  et  force  d'ascension. 

La  foudre  aussi  a  du  contribuer  a  1'incendie,  puisque,  comme  je 
1'ai  dit  plus  haut,  ces  vapeurs  etaient  sillonnees  d'etincelles  electriques. 
De  plus,  par  suite  du  degagement  des  gaz,  il  a  du  se  produire  un  vide 
considerable  sur  la  ville ;  lequel  vide  aura  asphyxie  les  individus  qui 
s' etaient  trouves  dans  des  conditions  particulieres  pour  ne  pas  etre 
atteints  par  la  vague.  Le  vent  d'aspiration  que  je  ressentis  au 
Parnasse,  situe  a  3  kilometres  de  Saint-Pierre  a  vol  d'oiseau,  a  du 
donner  le  coup  de  grace  en  broyant  absolument  Saint-Pierre. 

Eelativement  a  une  pluie  de  feu  dont  on  a  beaucoup  parle,  je  n'ai 
rien  aperc,u  de  semblable,  ayant  cependant  observe  le  phenomene  dans 
son  entier.  Quant  aux  matieres  volcaniques  (cendres,  boue  et  pierres) 
tombees  a  Fort-de-France  et  dans  presque  toute  1'ile,  elles  ont  du 
provenir  d'une  sorte  de  fusee  lancee  par  le  volcan  quelques  secondes 
apres  la  destruction  de  Saint-Pierre,  car  a  aucun  moment  je  n'ai  vu 
1'eruption  verticale ;  les  vapeurs  qui  s'etaient  precipitees  sur  Saint- 
Pierre,  ayant,  dans  1'espace  de  quelques  secondes,  convert  entierement 
la  Martinique,  en  meme  temps  qu'elles  se  trouvaient  deja  au  zenith. 

II  s'agirait  de  savoir  quelle  a  pu  etre  la  nature  de  ces  gaz.  Pour 
moi,  je  crois  simplement  a  de  1'eau  chaude  a  une  temperature  excessive, 
car  peu  apres  1'eruption  j'ai  pu  sentir  pendant  un  temps  assez  long 
une  forte  odeur  de  terre  bouillie  qui  me  conduisit  immediatement  a 
1'hypothese  ci-dessus. 

EOGER  ARNOUX. 


APPENDIX  327 


METEOROLOGICAL    NOTES    FROM    THE    OBSERVATORY   OF    FORT-DE-FRANCE  AT 
ABOUT   THE   TIME   OF   THE   AUGUST   30    ERUPTION 

August  24. — Earthquake  nine-twenty-five  A.M.  Oscillation  north- 
west to  southeast.  Duration  twenty  seconds. 

August  25. — Eruption  visible  at  ten-twenty  A.M.  Numerous  illu- 
minations resembling  lightning. 

August  26. — Four  distinct  eruptions  between  five-thirty  A.M.  and 
seven-ten  A.M.  Clouds  rise  to  four  thousand  metres.  Glow  on  the 
first  ascending  clouds. 

August  28. — Bright  illumination  (lueurs)  after  ten-thirty  P.M. 

August  29. — Distinct  rumblings  (grondements)  between  nine  and 
ten  P.M. 

August  30. — At  one  P.M.  great  flocculent  volcanic  cloud,  of  large 
dimensions,  flowing  from  crater  northwest  to  southeast,  halted  about 
half  distance  from  crater  to  Fort-de-France,  becoming  dark  gray  in 
centre  and  turning  to  white  on  border.  Between  twelve-fifty  and 
one-ten  P.M.  the  barometer  descends  slightly  with  a  V-nick  of  four 
millimetres  and  an  opening  of  20'.  No  electric  manifestations.  Sea 
calm.  Yiolent  eruption  in  evening  comparable  to  May  eruption. 
The  projected  cloud  appears  about  nine  P.M.,  and  advances  rapidly, 
almost  to  Fort-de-France.  Electric  manifestations  remarkable,  and 
much  more  intense  than  on  July  9,  although  identical  in  character. 
Lightning  more  intense.  Simultaneous  scintillant  and  zigzag  dis- 
charges, producing  an  uninterrupted  crepitation,  from  time  to  time 
effaced  by  a  great  glow,  which  illumined  all  the  clouds.  Strong  odor 
of  ozone  perceptible.  There  was  a  retreat  of  the  sea  at  nine-twenty- 
five  P.M.,  followed  by  a  more  rapid  rise  (about  one  metre),  which 
covered  the  quais  and  came  to  the  border  of  the  savane.  Barometer, 
which  had  been  depressed  three  millimetres,  rose  four  millimetres  in  a 
period  often  minutes.  Light  fall  of  ashes  and  small  stones. 


328 


APPENDIX 


August 


21, 
22, 
23, 
24, 
25, 
26, 
27, 
28, 
29, 
30, 
31, 


Four  P.M. 
Millimetres. 
..760.8 


BAROMETER  : 

Ten  A.M. 
Millimetres. 

762.6 

761.4 760.1 

762.0 760.3 

762.8 761.8 

762.6 760.4 

762.8 761.0 

762.9 ....761.3 

763.0 761.0 

763.1 764.0 

763.1 761.2 

763.0..  761.0 


Total  rainfall  for  August,  215.8  millimetres. 


THE  ISLAND  OF   MARTINIQUE 


NOTES 

1  (p.  17).  The  population  of  the  commune  of  Saint  Pierre  was 
according  to  the  same  census  (1894)  25,382  (Annuaire  de  Martinique). 
A  less  official  census  placed  the  population  in  1901  at  26,500. 

2  (p.  24).  The  more  distinct  photographs  show  the  time  on  the 
clock  of  the  Hopital  Militaire — the  hour  of  the  destruction  of  Saint 
Pierre — to  be  7  h.  52  m.,  instead  of  7  h.  50  m.}  as  generally  stated  (8  h. 
2  m.  time  of  Fort-de-France). 

3  (p.  35).  The  eruption  of  Asamayama  is  stated  by  Milne  to  have 
been  "the  most  frightful  eruption  on  record,"  the  projectile  force 
having  been  sufficient  to  throw  out  rocks  from  forty  to  eighty  feet  in 
some  of  their  dimensions,  and  even  to  have  cast  out  one  rock  meas- 
uring two  hundred  and  sixty-four  by  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet 
(British  Association  Eeport,  1887).     It  is  more  than  likely,  judged  by 
the  character  of  the  attending  phenomena,  that  the  accounts  of  some 
of    the    earlier   eruptions,  such   as  Papandayang,    Asamayama,   and 
especially  Tomboro,  are  greatly  exaggerated,  and  to  a  degree  even 
fanciful. 

4  (p.  36).  Flammarion,    Bulletin   de    la    Socie'te   Astronomique    de 
France,  July,  1902,  p.  300 ;  Eoyal  Society  Eeport, 

5  (p.  39).  Bulletin  de  la  Socie'te  Astronomique  de  France,  July  and 
August,  1902. 

6  (p.  42).  See  the  interesting  paper  by  Harold  B.  Dixon  "  On  the 
Movements  of  the  Flame  in  the  Explosion  of  Gases"  (Proceedings 
Eoyal  Society,  September  20,  1902). 

7  (p.  46).  A  few  of  the  inhabitants  were  taken  from  the  city  in 
a  badly  scorched  condition,  but  with  the  exception  of  the  prisoner 
Ciparis  (or  Cilbarice)  and  Compere-Leandre,  concerning  whom  further 
details  appear  in  Chapter  VII,  none  of  these  seem  to  have  survived 
their  wounds. 


330  NOTES 

8  (p.  51).  A  further  discussion  of  the  Pelee  afterglows  appears  in 
Chapter  XIX,  "  The  Phenomena  of  the  Eruption." 

9  (p.  53).  The   National   Geographic  Magazine,  July,  1902 ;   Cen- 
tury Magazine,  September,  1902. 

•  10  (p.  67).  Several  of  the  older  active  points  on  the  southwestern 
slope  of  Pelee  passed  under  the  name  of  "  Soufriere"  or  "  the 
Soufriere."  That  of  the  Etang  Sec  is  not  to  be  confounded  with  the 
one  referred  to  by  Leprieur,  Peyraud  and  Rufz  as  one  of  the  seats 
of  the  eruption  of  August,  1851.  See  Chapter  XI,  "The  Geography 
of  Mont  Pelee." 

11  (p.  122).  It  seems  to  be  a  common  belief  that  Pliny's  letters 
to  Tacitus  narrating  the  Yesuvian  eruption  of  79  were  written  when 
the   famous  epistolarian   was    hardly   more   than   a   lad,   less    than 
eighteen  years  of  age.     Pliny  was  witness  of  the  eruption  when  he 
was  of  this  age,  but  the  narration  belongs  to  a  much  later  period. 
Pliny's  opening  reference  to  Tacitus  as  one  whose  writings  would 
confer  immortality  upon  his  own  uncle,  the  elder  Pliny,  clearly  estab- 
lishes this  point,  as  Tacitus,  at  the  time  of  the  eruption,  was  him- 
self only  about  twenty-seven  years  of  age,  and  had  produced  no  work 
that  would  entitle  him  to  special  consideration  as  a  fame  bestower. 
It  is  more  than  likely  that  these  letters  were  written  nearly  or  quite 
twenty  years  after  the  event ;  and  this  circumstance  probably  ex- 
plains why  no  direct  reference  is  made  in  them  to  the  destruction  of 
Pompeii  and  Herculaneum. 

12  (p.  126).  In  Orrery's  translation  this  passage  appears :  "  em- 
barked with  a  design  not  only  to  relieve  the  people  of  Retince"  etc., 
the  personal  name  Rectina  being  evidently  confounded  with  Retina 
(also  Rectina),  the   location   on   the   Bay  of  Naples  which    closely 
corresponds   in  position   with   the   modern    Resina   (near    Hercula- 
neum). 

13  (p.  129).  See  Johnston-Lavis,  "  The  Geology  of  Monte  Somma 
and  Vesuvius,"  in  Quarterly  Journal  Geological  Society  of  London, 
XL,  pp.  35-112,  1884.     The  author  says :  "  If  the  Plinian  eruption 
had  formed  the  greater  part  of  the  present  Vesuvian  cone,  it  must, 


NOTES  331 

besides  the  materials  that  cover  Pompeii  on  the  mountain  slopes  in 
that  direction,  have  ejected  sufficient  also  to  form  a  cone  twice  the 
size  of  that  of  Vesuvius,  to  fill  up  the  great  crater,  and  upon  the  base 
of  this  another  at  least  half  the  size  of  that  now  visible"  (p.  38).  If 
this  is  possible,  there  would  seem  to  be  no  particular  reason  to 
assume  that  any  cone — corresponding  to  the  modern  Vesuvius — ex- 
isted in  79,  since  a  new  one  with  full  dimensions  might  have  been 
built  up  at  the  base,  or  through  the  flank,  of  what  already  existed — 
that  corresponding  to  the  Somma  wall.  We  should  then  have  the 
single  summit  which  some  think  necessary  to  harmonize  with  the 
older  descriptions  of  the  volcano. 

14  (p.  136).  See  the  discussion  of  this  subject  in  Lyell's  "  Princi- 
ples of  Geology." 

15  (p.  168).  Journal  des  Mines,  Paris,  1796,  3  (part  xviii),  p.  58. 

16  (p.  170).  The  map  accompanying   Labat's  "  Nouveau  Voyage 
aux  Isles  de  VAmerique"  locates  a  lake  (Lac  des  Palmistes  ?)  on  Mont 
Pelee. 

17  (p.  181).  A  further  discussion  of  this  relation  is  contained  in 
Chapter  XIX,  "  The  Phenomena  of  the  Eruption." 

18  (p.   183).  Professor  Lacroix,  in  the   Comptes  Rendus  for  No- 
vember 10,  1902,  p.  772,  states  that  the  new  fragmental  cone  now 
overtops  the  eastern  rim  of  the  crater  (the  southwestern  border  of 
the  basin  of  the  Lac  des  Palmistes)  by  fifty  metres,  and  approaches 
the  bounding  wall  to  within  about  one  hundred  metres.    The  depth  of 
the  surrounding  atrio  is  thought  to  be  in  places  not  more  than  one 
hundred  and  fifty  metres.     The  upward  growth  of  this  cone  has  not 
been  latterly  so  rapid  as  Professor  Lacroix  appears  to  believe,  as  my 
photograph  taken  on  June  1  shows  the  summit  to  be  but  little  below 
the  crest  of  the  volcano  already  at  that  time.     Lacroix  also  makes  the 
interesting  statement  that  the  cone  appeared  to  be  completely  solid, 
and  to  have  no  central  chimney  ("  entierement  constitue  par  des  roches 
solides  .  .  .  Ce  cone  n'a  certainement  pas  de  cheminee  centrale;  quandil 
y  a  pen  de  vent,  toute  les  fumeroles  qui  sortent  de  ces  flancs  s'elevent  verti- 
calement  et  donnent  Tillusion  d'un  panache  terminal"}. 


332  NOTES 

19  (p.  185).  A  further  discussion  of  this  subject  appears  in  Chap- 
ter XIX,  "The  Phenomena  of  the  Eruption." 

20  (p.  229).  Pond  and  Percy  Smith,  in  Transactions  of  the  New 
Zealand  Institute,  1886  (1887),  XIX,  p.  350. 

21  (p.  240).  Humboldt,  Cosmos,  Bohn's  Edition,  Y,  (1872),  p.  422. 
For  a  further  discussion  of  this  subject  see  Chapter  XIX. 

22  (p.  248).  "  But  a  hurricane  blast  of  steam  charged  with  burn- 
ing dust  did  not  sweep  down  from  La  Soufriere  as  it  did  from  Mont 
Pelee"   (Eussell,  National   Geographic  Magazine,  July,  1902,  p.  275). 
This  statement  is  perhaps  not  fully  in  accord  with  the  observations 
of  some  other  investigators.     The  dominant  feature  of  the  Soufriere 
eruption,  as  described  by  Tempest  Anderson  and  J.   S.   Flett,  repre- 
senting the  special  Commission  of  the  Eoyal  Society,  seems  to  have 
been  most  strikingly  similar  to  that  of  the  eruption  of  Pelee.    "  Those 
who  were  in  the  open  air  saw  a  dense  black  cloud  rolling  with  terrific 
velocity  down  the  mountain.  .  .  .  The  cloud  was  seen  to  roll  down 
upon  the  sea,  and  was  described  to  us  as  flashing  with  lightning,  espe- 
cially when  it  touched  the  water.     All  state  that  it  was  intensely  hot, 
smelt  strongly  of  sulphur,  and  was  suffocating.     They  felt  as  if  some- 
thing was  compressing  their  throats,  and  as  if  there  was  no  air  to 
breathe.     There  was  no  fire  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  word,  only 
the  air  was  itself  hot  and  was  charged  with  hot  dust."  (Proceedings 
Eoyal  Society,  London,  August  22,  1902,  p.  428.) 

23  (p.  256).  A  further  discussion  of  this  subject  appears  in  Chap- 
ter XIX,  "  The  Phenomena  of  the  Eruption." 

24  (p.  260).  For  a  discussion  of  the  relations  existing  between  the 
Sierra  Merida  and  other  continental  mountain  chains  see  Suess :  "  Das 
Antlitz  der  Erde"  1,  pp.  700  et  seq. 

25  (p.  263).     "  Les  Manifestations  volcaniques  et  sismiques  dans  le 
groupe  des  Antilles"  (Revue  Generate  des  Sciences,  July  30,  1902). 


INDEX 


Afterglows,  50,  255,  301-305 
Ajoupa-Bouillon,    192,    213,    219; 

partial  destruction  of,  232 
Antilles,  Lesser.     See  Lesser  An- 
tilles 
Ash,  volcanic,  distribution  of,  50, 

288 

Assier,  journey  to,  140-150 
Atmospheric  disturbance,  294 

Basse-Pointe,  overflow  at,  78,  104, 

174 

Blast,  destroying,  nature  of,  311 
Bourdon,  Heights  of,  232 

Cable,  breaking  of,  54-56 

Calebasse,  the,  213,  236 

Capot,  the,  157,  174 

Carbet,  46,  47,  107 

Carbet,  Pitons  of,  10 

Caribbean  Region,  disturbances 
in,  58;  volcanic  relations  of, 
257-270  ;  a  region  of  break- 
ages and  subsidences,  258- 
262;  earth  movements  in, 
263-265 

Ciparis,  Auguste,  prisoner  of  Saint 
Pierre,  116 

Destroying  blast,  nature  of,  311 
Dion  Cassius,  account  of  Yesuvian 
eruption,  124 


Earthquake  in  Fort-de-France, 
210 

Electric  illumination,  231-234, 
251-252,  291-294 

Eruptions  of  May  8,  35-59 ;  dust- 
distribution,  49;  afterglows, 
50 ;  intensity  of  sound,  239 ; 
force  of,  278 ;  electric  illu- 
mination, 291;  magnetic  dis- 
turbance caused  by,  298; 
earth  pulsation,  310 ;  atmos- 
pheric disturbance,  310 

Etang  Sec,  38;  boiling  up,  63; 
breaking  of  barrier,  69  ;  seat 
of  the  eruption  of  May  8, 
271 

Falaise,  the,  157 ;  supposed  crater 

of,  213 

Fonds-Core,  20,  116 
Fonds-Saint-Denis,  107 
Force  of  eruption,  278 
Fort-de-France,  2-6;    earthquake 

in,  August  24,  210 

Grande-Anse,  146 
Grande-Riviere,  208,  225 

Herculaneum,  36 ;  destruction  of, 
compared  with  that  of  Saint 
Pierre,  121-139 

333 


334 


INDEX 


Hovey,  E.  O.,  on  Pelee's  crater, 
178 ;  on  Soufriere's  crater, 
245 

Kennan,  George,  interview  with 
prisoner  of  Saint  Pierre,  117 ; 
on  the  nature  of  explosive 
blast,  316 

Krakatao,  eruption  of,  35-36 

Lac  des  Palmistes,  38,  153,  160, 
169-172 

Lamentin,  142 

Landes,  Professor,  interview  with, 
74 

Les  Colonies,  articles  in,  61  et  seq 

Lesser  Antilles,  geographic  rela- 
tions of,  257-270;  volcanoes 
of,  261-263;  broad  extent  of 
seismic  and  volcanic  disturb- 
ance, 265-270 

Leyritz,  Habitation,  216,  225. 

Lhuerre,  Acting  Governor,  his 
official  report,  109-112 

Lorrain,  79 

Macouba,  208,  225 

Magnetic  disturbances,  298 

Martinique,  characters  of,  8-15; 
area,  11 ;  population,  12;  cul- 
tivation of  cane  in,  13  ;  ab- 
sence of  railroads,  14 

Mary,  Pere,  104,  107,  189-196; 
death  of,  195,  241 


Morne  Balai,  217  ;  partial  destruc- 
tion of,  231 

Morne  Capot,  232 

Morne  de  La  Croix,  38,  161,  168; 
destruction  of,  172. 

Morne  d' Orange,  29,  116 

Morne  Eouge,  20-21,  189-196; 
annihilation  of,  195,  232 ;  loss 
of  life  in,  241 

Noise  of  eruption,  305 

Parel,  Yicar-General,  his  chroni- 
cle, 85-108 

Pelee,  eruption  of,  May  8,  35-59 ; 
of  May  20,  105  ;  eruption  of, 
compared  with  that  of  Yesu- 
vius  in  year  79,  121,  139 ;  as- 
cents of,  May  31  and  June 
1,  151-165;  crater  of,  162- 
165 ;  geography  of,  166  et  seq.; 
height  of,  168;  crater  of, 
176-180;  eruption  of,  June 
6,  197  et  seq. ;  unsuccessful 
effort  to  ascend,  210;  ascent 
of,  August  30,  216;  electric 
display  of,  229  ;  eruption  of, 
August  30,  231-243  ;  sympa- 
thetic relation  with  Soufriere, 
251-252 

Phenomena  of  eruption  dis- 
cussed, 271-318 

Pliny,  account  of  Yesuvian  erup- 
tion, 121  et  seq. 


INDEX 


335 


Pompeii,  36  ;  destruction  of,  com- 
pared with  that  of  Saint 
Pierre,  121-139 

Pouyer-Quertier,  report  of  officers 
of,  on  eruption  of  June  6, 
200 

Precheur,  91,  103,  174;  ruins  of, 
204-207;  conditions  in,  in 
early  May,  205 

Precheur  River,  77 

Procureur  of  Martinique,  report 
of,  111-116 

Riviere   Blanche,    66,   69,   88-89, 

175,  201,  203 

Riviere-des-Peres,  20,  78,  175,  211 
Riviere  Seche,  175,  211 
Roxelane,  the,  20,  78,  175 

Sainte-Philomene,  47,  103,  116 
Saint  Pierre,  15-34  ;  ruins  of,  21- 
34 ;  objects  found  in,  25-27  ; 
ash-covering  of,  33;  destruc- 
tion of,  37-49,  82;  days  of 
fear  and  trembling  in,  60-72  ; 
last  day  of,  73-84 ;  annihila- 
tion, 82 ;  number  of  killed, 
83 ;  burning  of,  109-120 ;  pri- 
soner of,  116  ;  destruction  of, 
compared  with  that  of  Pom- 
peii, 121-139 


Shock  of  eruption,  305 

Soufriere,  the,  244  et  seq. ;  craters 
of,  245  ;  height  of,  246  ;  erup- 
tion of,  May  7,  247-351; 
eruption  of  September  3-4, 
251-254;  of  October  16, 
270 

Tarawera,  electric  afterglows  of, 

229 

Ti-Bolhommes,  the,  212 
Trianon,  assumed  crater  of  the, 

213,  214 
Trinite,  145 

Usine  Guerin,  69,  88 

Vesuvius,  eruption  of  year  79 
compared  with  that  of  Pelee, 
121-139 ;  assumed  decapita- 
tion of,  128 ;  ancient  form  of, 
131 

Vive,  150,  233 

Volcanic  relations  of  the  Carib- 
bean Basin,  257-270 

Volcanoes  of  the  Lesser  Antilles, 
261-263 

Wind,  volcanic,  52,  296 


CANAL          D  E        LA         DOMINIQUE 


MAP   OF   THE    NORTHERN   PART   OF    MARTINIQUE 
Showing  approximate  areas  of  destruction 

The  oblique  shading :   Zone  of  destruction  determined  by  the  May  eruptions,  with  the  region 

of  absolute  annihilation  shaded  dark 

Dotted  shading:  Extension  of  field  due  to  the  eruption  of  August  30 
Scale  of  distances  in  kilometres 


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